Lobo Baseball at SJSU Series Preview

by Zach

The Lobos (24-10, 12-3) will look to continue their great play in the Mountain West when they face SJSU in San Jose. The Lobos currently have a 2.5 game lead in the conference halfway through the conference season, which puts them in a good position for the home stretch. They’ll start the back half of conference play by looking to sweep the season series against SJSU (10-22, 3-12), after winning all three games in Albuquerque last month by scores of 9-6, 3-2 and 11-1. It will be hard to sweep all six games from the Spartans, but the Lobos do have an edge in every aspect of the game. The most important thing for the Lobos in this series is for the pitching staff to continue having the great outings we’ve started to become accustomed to. In the first series meeting with the Spartans, the Lobos had great performances from Tyler Stevens and Colton Thomson, while Carson Schneider had his one rough start of the year. I think that the Lobos should be able to jump ahead of the Spartans early and dominate this series.

Scattered Thoughts:

  • Last night during the Florida and Arkansas game on ESPNU, the Lobos were one of 3 teams mentioned as being a team on the rise. The Lobos have won 9 of their 10 weekend series this year, with the lone blemish being the Dallas Baptist series.
  • Jared Holley didn’t play in the two midweek games this week, as for the last week or so hehas been dealing with a quad strain. I expect Holley to be in the lineup this weekend and be a key factor in this series.
  • The Lobo offense this season has been fantastic, with a team batting average of .319 and an on-base percentage of .415. Chris DeVito leads the team with a .440 batting average and a .497 on base percentage.
  • The Lobo offense has five players with more walks than strikeouts: Chris DeVito (17-15), Austin Bell (8-2), Luis Gonzalez (22-16), Jared Holley (11-10), and Jared Mang (16-15). That is a sign of a very disciplined hitting team.
  • Chris DeVito is staking his claim to an All-American season. He is now hitting .440 with 34 runs scored, 48 RBIs, 12 doubles, a triple and 11 homeruns. If you look at most hitting categories in the country, it won’t take long to find DeVito’s name.
  • The starting rotation for the Lobos in conference play has been fantastic overall. Carson Schneider is 4-0 with a 2.88 ERA in 40 2/3 innings with two complete game and has 20 strikeouts with only 4 walks, Tyler Stevens is 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA in 34 1/3 innings with 20 strikeouts and 10 walks, Colton Thomson is 2-1 with a 3.51 ERA in 25 2/3 innings with 25 strikeouts and 9 walks.
  • The Lobos have won the first two games of each conference series so far this season and have gone on to complete the sweep twice.

San Jose State Spartans:

Here is our look at the Spartan program from the first series.

The Spartans are hitting .274 as a team, with a .345 on base percentage and a .360 slugging percentage. The Spartans do have six hitters hitting over .300 in Shane Timmons (.365), David Campbell (.343), Ozzy Braff (.336), Joe Stefanki (.313), Brett Baustista (.350), and Michael Breen (.317). It will be important for the Lobo pitchers to limit their walks, as the Spartans don’t have much power and will be a station to station team. Giving SJSU free baserunners will make them a headache for the Lobos.

The weekend rotation for the Spartans this season has been Logan Handzlik (1-2 with a 7.96 ERA, 23 walks, and 16 strikeouts), Matt Brown (1-4 with a 4.61 ERA, 16 walks, and 27 strikeouts), and Josh Nashed (0-4 with a 6.26 ERA, 8 walks, and 27 strikeouts). You could see some changes to the rotation, but I don’t know if there are any better options for the Spartans, as they have a 6.48 team ERA. The Spartans don’t have great pitching as a whole, which gives the Lobos a chance to have a huge weekend at the plate.

Conference Standings:

  1. UNM 12-3
  2. AFA 8-4
  3. FSU 9-6
  4. Nevada 6-4
  5. UNLV 5-10
  6. SDSU 4-8
  7. SJSU 3-12

Series Prediction:

The first place Lobos take on the last place Spartans in a series that should be all Lobos. I give the Lobos a 95% chance to win the series, and a 55% chance of sweeping the series. I expect the Lobos to win all three game pretty easily and take a commanding conference lead.

Game Info:

Who: New Mexico Lobos (24-10, 12-3) at San Jose State Spartans 10-22, 3-12)

Where: Municipal Stadium, San Jose California

When: Friday April 15th 7 PM MT, Saturday April 16th 3 PM MT, Sunday 17th 2 PM MT

Stream: MW Network/ Campus Insiders

Probable Starters:

Game 1: Carson Schneider (6-1, 3.05 ERA) vs. Logan Handzlik (1-2, 7.96 ERA)

Game 2: Tyler Stevens (4-2, 4.88 ERA) vs. Matt Brown (1-4, 4.61 ERA)

Game 3: Colton Thomson (4-1, 3.2 ERA) vs. Josh Nashed (0-4, 6.26 ERA)