President’s weekend marks the beginning of a new season for San Diego State Baseball.
The Aztecs, who were picked to win the Mountain West by conference head coaches in the preseason poll this past Wednesday, begin their quest to defend their title with Opening Weekend against the University of San Francisco Dons beginning this Friday at 6:00 pm. The series continues Saturday, with first pitch also at 6:00 p.m. and getaway day is Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Junior Logan Boyer, who was announced as MW Preseason Pitcher of the Year by Baseball America, will be the Opening Night Starter for the Aztecs, followed by senior Harrison Pyatt Saturday, and redshirt senior Brad Wegman on Sunday.
Boyer identifies the team’s high expectations for 2019, especially after the team’s recent success, winning the MW Conference in five of the last six seasons.
“I think that the big part is that we’re not going into it knowing we’re going to win but expecting to win, because of what has previously happened throughout the years and the guys this year understand after the fall that we’re going into the season a lot stronger,” he said. “I think that’s where the expectation of winning conference championships is coming from.”
A big part of last season’s championship season, had to with sophomore infielder/right-handed pitcher Casey Schmitt, a local product from Eastlake High School.
This year, Schmitt has been named to two Preseason All-American teams. The 2018 MWC Tournament Most Valuable Player was named to the 2019 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) second team and the 2019 Collegiate Baseball All-American Third team.
In addition to Schmitt, the Scarlet and Black also have all-MW selections returning in senior outfield Chad Bible and junior outfield Julian Escobedo. Besides being all-MW selections last year, Schmitt and Escobedo along with Boyer were named to the MW Preseason All-Conference team.
Besides the players, head coach Mark Martinez has aspirations to go as far possible in the NCAA Tournament.
“The next step is to win a regional and give us an opportunity to play past a regional, into a Super Regional and get to Omaha,” he said. “That’s the expectation of our program, to play for a national championship and we’re working on it.”
The Mountain West Champion Aztecs begin their quest to be in NCAA tournament Friday night at 6:00 p.m.