By Ernie Gonzalez
San Jose, Calif. — Once upon a time, as in two months ago, San Jose State baseball was forecasted to finish dead last in the Mountain West preseason coaches poll.
Through 33 games, SJSU’s overall win-loss total is just one game over .500. However, its league record stands good enough to hold a three-game lead for first place.
Let’s just disregard the 13-2 thumper SJSU suffered to the Portland Pilots for a minute and focus on the good.
After another home sweep Sunday against the University of New Mexico and an 11-4 start to conference play, one’s got to wonder if the scorching start, at least in conference that is, can continue — and for how long.
Of the 21 games remaining, 15 are in-conference. And if I do the math correctly, that means five more weekend series.
Three of them are against teams that SJSU has already seen this year: UNLV, Fresno State and Air Force. The Spartans swept UNLV at home with three games decided by one run, took two of three from Fresno State in the valley, and beat Air Force twice in March.
That leaves San Diego State and Nevada — the first two teams picked to win the conference in the Mountain West preseason coaches poll.
The Aztecs currently sit a trio of games behind the Spartans for first place in the league, while the Wolf Pack are 6-9 in conference and have to come to San Jose May 10-12.
Let’s play pretend for a second.
It’s not beyond the Spartans to take two of three against the teams that they have already faced. Say that happens — giving the Spartans series wins against the Rebels, Bulldogs and Falcons — that would put them at 17 wins.
Then Nevada at home, where SJSU has made it a difficult place to win for opponents with an 8-1 conference record and 11-4 in total at Excite Ballpark. Call it a sweep.
That would give the Spartans 20 conference wins without even playing San Diego State, a mark the team hasn’t even come close to since joining the Mountain West.
There are a couple of reasons why SJSU baseball is in this position.
The first and obvious one is pitching. It’s been downright phenomenal.
The first player that comes to mind is southpaw Andrew Mitchel. The senior tops the rest of the staff with 67 strikeouts, 40 more than the next best, Tevin Cadola. Mitchel is also the only starter in the rotation who has not given up the long ball this season.
Saturdays are usually given to Cadola, who has yet to lose a game this season. He’s been handed a couple of no decisions, but still has a spotless 5-0 record next to his name. He’s definitely a consistent right-hander that has the ability to clinch a series when needed.
Sundays are when second-year head coach Brad Sanfilippo keeps the opponent on edge, simply because there is no set Sunday starter — anymore that is.
The Sunday slot belonged to freshman Ben Polack up until March 17. Since, sophomore Connor Konishi (March 24) and freshman Jonathan Clark (April 7) have taken over.
In Clark’s start, which by the way was only the fourth of his collegiate career, he went the distance, tossing a complete-game gem and carried the Spartans to a conference sweep over the Lobos.
Probably the most jaw-dropping figure for Clark though wasn’t even on his statline. Between the first out of the top of the second inning and the second-to-last out of the game, not one Lobos player reached base safely, as the San Marcos kid sat down 21 in a row.
Reason number two: Players doing their job — aka a bunch of role players understanding what is asked of them and coming through.
Kellen Strahm has transitioned in dazzling fashion from an underclassmen to an upperclassman and his stats back it up. The Eugene native currently sits 21st in the country in batting average with a .407 clip.
He is seeing the ball better as a whole as he has hit all four of his career home runs in the past month and is striking out a lot less, getting on base 50.3 percent of the time. And once he gets on base, he’s a threat as he has snagged second base 14 times this season.
The team lead in runs, hits, homers, average, on base percentage, slugging percentage, total bases and stolen bases — all belong to Strahm.
That’s Kellen. How about newcomer James Shimashita, who took the team by storm with 10 ribbies in the squad’s first four games. Shimmy has fit and adapted comfortably in the heart of the batting order and has delivered big hit after big hit all season, especially at home.
Another newbie is Troy Viola. Gotta love the name. Positioned at the hot corner, Viola has a hot bat as well. Beside the pair of walk-off hits this season, the junior transfer tops the team in doubles with 9.
The main thing to focus on for Viola is limiting the strikeouts, a line he leads the squad in at 30 and can be deadly for conference foes and can frighten the thought of pitching to SJSU’s heart of the order.
So go ahead and take a moment and really consider the run SJSU can make this season, assuming they keep things up. Or just chuckle at all the Mountain West coaches who anticipated SJSU baseball would be out of business. Either works.
Follow Ernie on Twitter @superego1012