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The San Jose State baseball team leaves Northern California this weekend for the first time this season on its longest road trip of the year. The Spartans head to Ruston, La., for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at Louisiana Tech beginning Friday.
Schedule (All times local)
Friday, May 4 6:00 p.m. CT
Jeb Stefan (2-6, 4.74 ERA)
vs.
Johnny Melero (2-5, 2.94)
Saturday, May 5 3:00 p.m. CT
Phil Maton (6-4, 3.26)
vs.
Esteban Guzman (1-1, 3.37)
Sunday, May 6 1:00 p.m. CT
Tanner Mendonca (5-5, 3.22)
vs.
TBA
RADIO COVERAGE
90.5 FM KSJS and The GoldZone on sjsuspartans.com is the radio broadcast home for San Jose State baseball in 2012. None of this weekend’s San Jose State baseball games at Louisiana Tech will be broadcast online or on the air waves.
LIVE STATS
Live stats are available free of charge for all San Jose State home games and a majority of road contests. Click on the Live Stats icon at the top of the San Jose State Athletics web page at SJSUSpartans.com and select the game. Fans can also access the live stats from the Schedule/Results section off the baseball page.
SCOUTING SAN JOSE STATE
The Spartans (21-19, 5-4 WAC) followed up a comeback victory Sunday against Sacramento State with its second win of the year over top-10 ranked Stanford, completing their first season series sweep over the Cardinal since 1995.
Nick Schulz has hit safely in 27 of his last 29 games with streaks of 16, five and currently six games. Schulz has driven in four runs in his last two games and leads the team with 19 RBIs. Matt Lopez is hitting a team-best .471 in WAC games. He has hits in 11 of his last 12 games with six multi-hit games.
Kalei Contrades and Jason Kafka have posted a combined 1.87 ERA in 43 1/3 innings pitched with four saves and 34 strikeouts. Mike Aldrete leads the team with a 6-1 record in 17 appearances. Johnny Melero has posted a 2.94 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 10 starts.
SCOUTING LOUISIANA TECH
The Bulldogs (20-23, 3-9 WAC) went 3-1 last week, including their first WAC series win of the year, taking two of three from visiting Hawai’i. That broke a six-game losing streak for Louisiana Tech, its longest of the season.
Ryan Gebhart is the team’s leading hitter with a .331 average and 11 doubles. Alex Williams is the WAC’s top slugger with 10 homeruns and leads the Bulldogs with 36 RBIs. Austin Hedges tops the team with seven steals.
Louisiana Tech’s pitching has struggled this season with a 5.62 team ERA. Seven different Bulldogs pitchers with at least six appearances this season have ERAs of 5.40 or higher. The team’s bullpen stalwart has been Caleb Dudley, who has posted eight saves with a 3.51 ERA and seven saves in 23 appearances.
SWEEPING STANFORD
With its 8-5 win over No. 7 Stanford Tuesday at Blethen Field, San Jose State completed its first season sweep of the Cardinal since 1995. The Spartans also beat Stanford on April 17th, 3-2, at Sunken Diamond. The Spartans beat Stanford by scores of 9-4 and 6-3, respectively, in April of 1995 during a stretch in which they beat the Cardinal five straight times, including back-to-back season sweeps in ’94 and ’95.
NO RED ZONE
The Spartans’ home-and-home sweep of Stanford also gave them their first season sweep in 17 years of their red-wearing rivals Fresno State and the Cardinal in the same season. On top of beating Stanford twice in 1995, San Jose State also beat Fresno State, 3-2, in a single non-conference game.
SUNDAYS ARE NOT FOR RESTING
San Jose State has been working its hardest on the last day of the week, winning three straight Sunday games dating to April 15 at Fresno State. The Spartans most recently scored three runs after the sixth inning to come from behind and defeat Sacramento State, 8-7, on Sunday. San Jose State is 5-4 on Sundays this season and 4-2 in Sunday series finales.
SCORING EARLY AND OFTEN
The Spartans have scored early in seven of their last eight games, posting a total of 17 runs in the first through third innings. Tuesday against Stanford, they scored all eight of their runs in the first four innings en route to an 8-5 win. The Spartans have struggled to hold on to early leads though, allowing the game to be tied or falling behind eight times during that stretch after going ahead. San Jose State is 13-7 this season when they score first.
HOME SWEET ROAD
The Spartans have made themselves at home on the road this season. The team holds the best road record in the WAC at 9-4 (.692) and has gone 7-0 on the road in April. The team went 13-14 on the road in 2011.
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