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Baseball Set For Mountain West Conference Tournament
May 20, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
THIS WEEK The event will be held in the newly-constructed Isotopes Park, home of Albuquerque's Triple-A baseball franchise. All six teams in the MWC will participate in the tourney, which will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The tourney is a double elimination event with the first-round pairings determined by the final conference standings. Tickets may be purchased in advance by contacting the University of New Mexico Ticket Office at 1-800-905-3315 or 505-925-5626. Further information is available at the Mountain West Conference web site (www.themwc.com).
TOURNEY SEEDINGS AND SCHEDULE The Aztecs earned the second seed after finishing in a tie with Brigham Young for second place in the final league standings and winning the tiebreaker with the Cougars. SDSU and BYU split six regular-season games. The Aztecs got the higher seed due to the fact that they defeated conference champion UNLV twice while the Cougars had just one win over the Rebels. Other first-round match-ups have #1-seeded UNLV facing #6-seeded Air Force at 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday, and third-seeded Brigham Young taking on fourth-seeded New Mexico at 7:00 p.m. that night. The schedule for the first two days of the tournament is as follows: Wednesday, May 21 Game 1...Air Force vs. UNLV...............11:00 a.m. Game 2...Utah vs. San Diego State..........3:00 p.m. Game 3...New Mexico vs. Brigham Young......7:00 p.m. Thursday, May 22 Game 4...Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2....11:00 a.m. Game 5...Winner Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3....3:00 p.m. Game 6...Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3...7:00 p.m. The schedule for the final two days will depend on how many teams remain after Thursday's contests.
MWC TOURNAMENT ON THE AIR In addition to television coverage, Creative Sports Radio Network will broadcast the championship on May 24 to 21 markets nationwide. The MWC website (www.themwc.com) will also provide livestats to all MWC Tournament games. As was the case throughout the 2003 season, all of SDSU's games during the tourney will be carried live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com with Alan Horton calling the play-by-play. The pregame show for each contest begins 10 minutes prior to game time.
THROUGH THE YEARS SDSU's all-time record entering the week (since 1936) stands at 1993-1203-37 (.622). Since 1936, the program has had only four head coaches: Charlie Smith (1936-64), Lyle Olson (1965-71), Jim Dietz (1972-2002) and Tony Gwynn (present).
SERIES RECORDS Air Force All-time: 48-15 2003: 5-1 MWC Games: 16-8 MWC Tourney: 2-0 Brigham Young All-Time: 55-35-1 2003: 3-3 MWC Games: 14-10 MWC Tourney: 3-3 UNLV All-Time: 40-23 2003: 2-4 MWC Games: 13-11 MWC Tourney: 1-1 New Mexico All-Time: 77-33 2003: 4-2 MWC Games: 17-7 MWC Tourney: 2-0 Utah All-Time: 72-16 2003: 4-2 MWC Games: 15-9 MWC Tournament: 1-0
HEAD COACH TONY GWYNN A former Aztec who played baseball at San Diego State from 1979 to 1981, Gwynn was a two-time all-American outfielder who finished his SDSU career with a .398 batting average. He also played basketball for four years at San Diego State, and holds the school's single-game, season and career assist records. Gwynn concluded a 20-year major league career with the San Diego Padres in 2001. With a career batting average of .338, he won eight National League batting titles, five Gold Gloves, and made 15 appearances in the annual All-Star Game.
AZTEC PITCHING ROTATION Wed. - Mike Moat (RHP, 6-5, 4.25) Thur. - Joe Carque (RHP, 4-5, 4.86) Fri. - Ben Coon (LHP, 5-4, 5.07)
STEALING AWAY The Aztecs have not run as much this year as in past seasons. The team total of 54 steals is on pace to set the mark for fewest since San Diego State joined Division I for the 1969 season. The record for lowest stolen base total in a season since 1969 is 60 during the 1975 campaign. Junior outfielder Anthony Gwynn leads the club with 25 steals. No other Aztec has reached double figures this season with Landon Burt's seven thefts being the second-highest total on the squad.
WORKING OVERTIME That number represents the most extra-inning affairs in a season for the Aztecs since the 1996 campaign when they played nine. Six of SDSU's overtime affairs have come in Mountain West Conference play and SDSU is 3-3 in those games. Included in that number is a loss to Utah, win and loss at UNLV, win over Brigham Young, and a win and loss against New Mexico.
DEFENSIVELY SPEAKING SDSU has had back-to-back errorless games just once this season, that being in both ends of the doubleheader at Brigham Young on May 9. SDSU has committed six errors in its last six contests for a fielding percentage of .975 over that span.
ERA LEADERS The team finished with a 4.83 mark in conference action, a half-run better than that of UNLV (5.33). Entering the conference tournament, SDSU has the lead in overall earned run average as well. The Aztecs 5.13 mark leads the league followed by UNLV at 5.56.
CURRENT HITTING STREAKS Those four players include: Gwynn had San Diego State's longest streak of the 2003 season at 14 games.
FRESHMEN CONTRIBUTE James Guerrero has been the team's starting shortstop since opening day, appearing in 51 of the team's 56 contests. He hit .311 during the regular season and led the team in runs scored, runs batted in, and walks. Curt Mendoza began the season as the starter in left field, and has played both left and right as well as designated hitter. He is third on the team with four home runs. Left-handed pitcher Ben Coon moved into the starting rotation a month into the season and has remained there. He has demonstrated excellent control this year with only 15 walks in 87 innings to go along with 62 strikeouts. Ronnie Lindsey has also been a regular on the mound in 2003. He began the year as a starter, but has been highly effective out of the bullpen over the second half of the season. He is the only Aztec regular who is averaging more than a strikeout per inning (45 Ks in 40.1 IP).
WEEKLY MWC AWARD WINNERS Junior Mike Moat was the Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 17) for his effort in SDSU's 5-0 win over 20th-ranked South Alabama. In that game, he gave up just three hits, walked none and struck out nine. Moat also earned the same honor on April 7 for his 2-1 win over BYU in which he went 7.1 innings, giving up an unearned run. Senior Erick Eigenhuis was Pitcher of the Week on March 18 for his relief effort against Utah. He went 4.2 innings, holding the Utes to no runs on two hits as the Aztecs came back from a 7-0 deficit to win the game. Junior first baseman Rielly Embrey was named Player of the Week on April 7 for his series vs. BYU in San Diego. In those three games, he went 5-for-9 (.556) with two homers and four RBIs. He hit a game-tying homer in the bottom of the ninth of the final game that allowed SDSU to go on to an extra-inning victory. Senior infielder Garrett Cook won Player of the Week honors on April 28 after going 10-for-17 in four games (at USD and Air Force). In those contests, he had three doubles, a triple, home run, six runs scored and six RBIs. Freshman lefty Ben Coon won the Pitcher of the Week award for his performance in the final game of the regular season vs. New Mexico. Coon tossed eight innings, scattering five hits and allowing two runs in the 8-3 win over the Lobos. He walked two and struck out six, getting the win in the contest that gave SDSU a second-place conference finish.
OTHER HONORS Junior left Drew Jenson was named to the all-tournament team at the Clash of the Conferences in Lancaster, Calif., in early March. He allowed one hit in three innings of relief work, and picked up the win in SDSU's victory over Cal State Northridge.
GWYNN GETS OFFENSIVE Over his last seven games, he has gone 23-for-44 (.523). His .404 average in Mountain West Conference play ranks fourth in the league in the final MWC stats. He has struck out just 20 times this season in 272 plate appearances, an average of once every 13.6 at bats. He has also been a defensive standout in center this season for the Aztecs. He has made four full-out diving catches of balls in the gap that have saved several runs in close games. He leads the team's outfielders with six assists. Gwynn leads the team in steals with 25 and triples with five. He is second in runs scored with 44. He is the only Aztec to have started all 56 games this season.
COOK DOUBLES UP Cook has hit safely in eight of his last nine contests and 14 of SDSU's last 16 games. Over those 16 contests, he has gone 24-for-64 (.375) with 15 runs scored, 21 RBI, seven doubles, a triple and two home runs. He has raised his batting average 62 points over that span. In those nine games, his on-base percentage is .467. Cook has also been solid defensively while playing both first and third base. He has committed just two errors this season (while at third) and is fielding .987 on the year. During the 2003 season, he is batting .357 in the designated hitter role, tops among Aztec players.
BURT GETS PLUNKED If he is hit one more time, he will tie the SDSU single-season mark of 12 HBP's held by current teammate Jon Stephens, who was hit a dozen times in 2002. Burt's career total of 13 hit by pitches ranks ties for sixth on the Aztecs all-time list.
COON REBOUNDS In his start at Riverside on April 29, he gave up three runs in four innings of work. Although the runs were earned officially, an error contributed to keeping the inning alive. Coon had arguably his best outing of the season against UNLV on May 4. He pitched 6.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing only two hits while striking out two. Last Friday vs. New Mexico, he went eight innings, scattering five hits and allowing a pair of earned runs in the 8-3 win over the Lobos. He walked two and struck out six in that contest. On the year, his strikeout-to-walk ratio is better than three-to-one (56 Ks-16 BB).
GUERRERO AMONG OFFENSIVE LEADERS He has drawn a walk in four of SDSU's last five games. He has also scored five runs in his last four contests. His 36 walks leads the team and is 14 more than the next highest individual total. His season on-base percentage stands at .423. He is batting .366 with runners in scoring position and has recorded 14 two-out RBIs this season. Guerrero is also proving himself as a hitter in his first year at SDSU, batting .311 with 10 doubles, four triples, two homers and a team-leading 34 runs batted in. In addition, he leads the squad with 48 runs scored.
JENSON CONTINUES EXCELLENT PITCHING He picked up a save and a win during last weekend's three-game series with New Mexico. His earned run average now stands at 2.23 this season. His 2.38 ERA in conference play led the league in 2003. Six of his wins have come in league play. He has a victory over every Mountain West team with the exception of Brigham Young, with two wins over both UNLV and Utah.
EMBREY POWERS UP Included in that number is his first two-home run game, which came on April 27 in the win at Air Force. He had five RBI in that game, an Aztec season high until he recorded six at BYU on May 9. He has committed only two errors at first base this season for a .994 fielding percentage.
AZTEC NOTES Anthony Gwynn's 25 stolen bases leads the league in all games while his 10 thefts in MWC games ranked second in the final league stats. Outfielder David Hall is 4-for-10 in the last four games in which he has come to the plate, hitting safely in each of those contests with a double and two runs scored. Senior Garrett Cook leads the club with 20 two-out RBIs. McLintock, Guerrero, Gwynn and Embrey have 14 apiece. Rielly Embrey and Anthony Gwynn have the only five-hit games for SDSU this season. The Aztecs have had four-hit games by six players: Jordan Swaydan, Landon Burt, Josh Allen, James Guerrero, Chad Corona and Anthony Gwynn. The Aztecs were successful on 21-of-30 (70%) stolen base attempts in Mountain West Conference play. Opponents stole only 23-of-45 (51.1%). Aztec outfielders have totaled 15 assists this year, led by Anthony Gwynn's six. SDSU has recorded 25 triples this season compared to just nine by opponents. In league games, the Aztecs have 12 three-baggers to five by foes. The Aztecs had gone 11 games without a triple after hitting three at University of San Diego on April 22 before connecting for two last weekend vs. New Mexico. The Aztecs have executed only 18 sacrifice bunts this season, but had a season-high four in the first game of last Friday's doubleheader vs. New Mexico. The record for fewest in a season (since SDSU joined Division I in 1969) is 26 on three occasions (1980, 1981, 1989).
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