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Week Two For Mountain West Baseball
Some good local series coming up. SDSU, New Mexico, UNLV, and Fresno State are all at home.
San Jose State (2-3)
The Spartans will have three games in San Francisco that will involve two games with the Dons (1-2) and one with Sacramento State (2-2). The big question for Spartan fans is “where is Brett Bautista?” He hasn’t been in any of the games and his bat is missed. The Dons have their lone win against UTSA. SJS fans should remember UTSA as being a member of the WAC then when they played SJS in football. Anyway, the Dons have no hitting (.219) or pitching (8.28) at this point. Sacramento State, on the other hand, has had an impressive start with two wins over Washington to split that series. Maybe coach has them back on track this year. The three arms in the rotation have yet to give up an earned arms even though IP was limited. That’s right, no runs.
San Diego State (3-1)
Three games at home in the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament. Teams will be Arizona (3-1), Arkansas (4-0), and Grand Canyon (1-3). Arizona has already lost the first game in the tournament 1-0 to a very good Arkansas team. The Wildcats have garnered their 3-1 record due to outstanding pitching. How outstanding? In 27 IP only 2 (TWO!) earned runs! Does that work? That doesn’t include the Arkansas game. The pitching staff is deep. Arkansas is the number 4 rated team in the country and has clubbed the other teams into submission so far. They swept Bucknell in three games one of which was by a 32-4 score. Ugh. I’ve coached and you lose your love for the game when you are on the receiving end of a game like that. Grand Canyon appears to be a bad team but the 1-3 record was against #7 TCU so I think they are just fine. They are hitting poorly (.218) and the pitching is awful (6.69) but you need to consider the opposition. It should improve in this tournament. Good opposition all around.
New Mexico (2-3)
The Lobos play four at home with Central Michigan. These two have already played one game where the Lobos missed an extra point and CMU had only three field goals. Yes, the Lobos won 20-9 in a football type of score. No game here. Who shined? Well, New Mexico’s Hayden Schilling went 4 for 5 with 4 RBI’s and 3 runs and Jeff Deimling went 3 for 5 with 4 RBI’s and 2 runs to lead the way in the first game.
Air Force (0-3)
They hit the road to play Navy (2-1) in three games in North Carolina. Inter-service sports events are always good. Navy’s two wins were against Georgetown and the ACC’s Wake Forest and that one is impressive. They ain’t hitting (.184) nor pitching (5.19) but they’ve won two. Go Falcons!
UNLV (3-1)
Four at home with Columbia (0-0). Can’t say much about this series. Columbia hasn’t played anyone and the Rebels are coming off a great weekend. The Lions are predicted to be a second place team in their division of the Ivy League.
Nevada (2-2)
The Wolf Pack lost 2 of 3 to Irvine but surprised a lot of people (me included) by shutting out Fullerton 2-0 in a single mid-week game. Dalton Gomez (1-0) got the win by going 8 strong innings The Pack will be taking on Oral Roberts (3-0) in three games in Tulsa this weekend. Don’t take ORU lightly, they just finished taking three well-pitched games from Utah. Oral Roberts has not done it on hitting as the team BA is a measly .218. But take a look at the team ERA (1.67) and the individual stats for the rotation. Justin McGregor (1-0 and 0.00 in 5 IP), Josh McMinn (0-0 and 1.50 in 5 IP) and Miguel Asua (0-0 and 4.50 in 6 IP). That’s more than pretty good against a Pac12 team. Nevada best be prepared. By the way, the first game has been postponed and I’m guessing a DH for Saturday or Sunday.
Fresno State (4-1)
The Bulldogs take on Houston Baptist (2-2) for four games at home. The Huskies lost 2 of 3 to Baylor, which is no shame, and took a single game from Texas Southern to get to their .500 record. Houston Baptist ain’t hitting much (.206) but the pitching is great (3.18). Jack Fitzgerald is the leading hitter at .400 with 2 home runs in 9 AB’s. The three top starters are doing well. They are Zach Carter (0-1 and 1.50), Matthew McCollough (0-0 and 1.50), and Brady Batten (1-0 and 2.25). I’ll take that rotation. We’ll see how things pan out in Fresno.