SPARTAN NOTES: In his second season with the Spartans...competing to be the primary starting rightfielder again in 2009...one of seven left-handed batting options on the roster...displays good range on defense, hand speed at the plate and can hit to all fields...team’s leading returning home run hitter from 2008.

2008: Started 42 of 48 games played, with 23 in right field and 19 in left...led the team with five home runs, all against conference opposition, including two during the four-game series at Fresno State, one in each half of the Saturday doubleheader (5/10)...the first was a three-run blast to right with two outs and the count at 2-2, in the fifth inning, to give SJSU a 7-4 lead...four of his long balls came on the road, with the other at Muni against Nevada (5/17)...first major college home run was a game-tying shot at NMSU (3/21), a solo one to lead off the eighth...also homered at La. Tech (3/29)...hit three home runs over the last nine games...went 3-for-6 with two doubles, a walk, two runs and one RBI against Hawai’i (4/4)...went 3-for-4 with a double, walk, two runs and two RBI against Hawai’i-Hilo (4/22), and 3-for-4 at Fresno State (5/10)...nine multi-hit and five multi-RBI games...ended the season on a season-long six-game hit streak...spent the 2008 summer with the Waterloo (Iowa) Bucks of the Northwoods League, providing several clutch hits offensively while also picking up one of nine NWL Rawlings Finest in the Field awards, as one of the top three defensive outfielders statistically in the NWL, with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage...team was displaced from its home ballpark for much of the summer season due to heavy flooding in Iowa.

DIABLO VALLEY COLLEGE: Played on the baseball team (Coach Bob Ralston) at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif., in 2006 and 2007...selected to the junior college Northern California All-American Team and the All-Big 7 Conference first team in 2007...hit a team-best .395 (60-for-152) with 17 doubles, two triples, three home runs, a team-high 18 walks, 30 runs batted in and two steals as a sophomore, slugging .592 with a .480 on-base percentage over 41 games...hit .268 with two home runs and 26 RBI in 2006.

MONTE VISTA HIGH SCHOOL: Graduated in 2005 from Monte Vista High School in Danville, Calif., earning two letters in baseball (Coach Bill Piona)...earned second-team All-Contra Costa Times and second-team All-East Bay Athletic League honors as a senior.

ALEX: Majoring in psychology...enjoys a variety of sports, spending time at lakes, being out in the water, fishing and boating...has two brothers, Ned and Jason...parents are John and Cynthia Sofranac...Alex Ray Sofranac was born in Castro Valley, Calif., on December 18, 1986.