SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose State baseball heads to Fresno for a weekend series against Mountain West rival Fresno State Friday through Sunday at Pete Bieden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.
Games Nos. 22-24
San José State (12-8, 6-3) at Fresno State (9-5, 1-2
Friday, March 22 | 6:05 p.m. PT
Saturday, March 23 | 6:05 p.m. PT
Sunday, March 24 | 1:05 p.m. PT
Pete Bieden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium | Fresno, Calif.
QUICK LOOK AT THE BULLDOGS
» Fresno State checks into the weekend with a 9-5 overall record and 1-2 mark in MW play. The Bulldogs lone conference series was against UNLV, which they dropped the first two games before winning the finale.
» The Bulldogs feature a stellar pitching unit that is leading the conferene in runs allowed (68) and have surrendered the second-fewest hits (131) and walks (66) in the league.
Leading the pack
» San Jose State currently sits atop the Mountain West standings with a 6-3 mark in league play entering Friday's game. The Spartans are currently the only team above .500 in conference play.
Last time out
» The Spartans played a midweek nonconference game at Sacramento State, falling to the Hornets 7-2. The SJSU bats found little success with just one hit on the evening.
bats are sizzlin'
» The Spartans are boasting one of the best offenses in both the conference and the nation thus far in 2019, ranking second in the MW and 26th nationally with a .300 batting average.
» Junior outfielder Kellen Strahm has been the leader batting a phenomenal .462 that leads the conference and is sixth in the NCAA. His 36 hits are the third-most in the NCAA, while his .542 on-base percentage is 18th nationally and 24 runs ranks 25th nationally.
HOME Sweet home
» SJSU is playing its best ball in front of the home crowd inside Municipal Stadium. The Spartans are currently 8-3 in home contests while hitting .297 .
20-20 vision
» The Spartans have scored 20 runs not once, but twice already in 2019. The first time came in the series finale at Santa Clara in a 20-10 victory.
» The second time was in the series finale at New Mexico as the Spartans walked away with a 22-18 victory in a nine-inning game that lasted 4:52.
strahm stays strong
» Kellen Strahm has established himself as one of the most feared hitters in the Mountain West this season. The junior leads the conference in batting average (.462), on-base percentage (.542), runs scored (24), and hits (36). He ranks second in stolen bases (11)
a performance for the ages
» Senior left-handed pitcher Andrew Mitchel put on one of the finest peformances ever seen on the mound in SJSU history on March 8 in the Spartans 4-1 win over Air Force. The Atwater, California, product tossed a complete game with a remarkable 18 strikeouts, the most thrown at any level in the NCAA this season.
» The strikeout total ranks second-most in a nine-inning game in school history and the most since 1964. It is also the second-most in Mountain West history behind Stephen Strasburg's 23 vs. Utah on April 11, 2008.
MW pitchers of the week
» The Spartans have been honored by the league office in back-to-back weeks as Andrew Mitchel and Fineas Del Bonta-Smith are the reigning Mountain West Pitchers of the Week. Mitchel earend the honor first for his 18-strikeout performance while Bonta-Smith picked up the award after a combined effort in the UNLV series in which he secured a win to improve to 2-1 and tallied two saves to bring his season total to five.
on the road again
» This weekend's series vs. Fresno State are part of a 10-game road swing for the Spartans. After falling at Sacramento State on Tuesday and playing the series vs. the Bulldogs, SJSU packs their bags for a cross-country trip to the midwest to take on Michigan and Northwestern before returning to the bay area for a road contest at San Francisco. The Spartans won't play at Municipal Stadium again until April 5 in a weekend series vs. New Mexico.
second year for sanfilippo
» Head coach Brad Sanfilippo had an outstanding first season at the helm of SJSU baseball as interim coach in 2018, leading the Spartans to a 27-30 overall record and a third-place finish in the Mountain West standings with a 16-14 record, their most conference wins since 2008. Sanfilippo was promoted to head coach following the season on June 12, 2018.