Young SDSU baseball team still hoping for turnaround to disappointing season

It’s been a season full of growing pains for a rather youthful and inexperienced San Diego State University baseball team. But brighter fortunes could be on the horizon, beginning with the Mountain West conference championship tournament May 25-29 at the University of New Mexico.

The Aztecs have won the Mountain West tournament title the past two seasons en route to appearances in the NCAA regionals. This year’s squad, though mired with a 13-30 record following Tuesday’s 7-2 non-conference victory against 17th-ranked Fullerton, still has hope of turning around its season in the upcoming conference tournament.

“It’s fortunate that we qualify for the conference tournament this year.,” explained junior pitcher Adrian Orozco, one of three Chula Vistans on the Aztecs roster this season. “Hopefully, we’ll get hot in the tournament.”

SDSU’s other South County connections include junior third baseman Andrew Brown and freshman catcher Dean Nevarez.

Orozco prepped at Otay Ranch High School while Nevarez graduated from Eastlake High School and Brown attended The Rock Academy.

Prior to competing in high school, both Orozco and Brown played at Park View Little League while Nevarez represented Chula Vista South Pony.

If you’re curious, neither Orozco nor Brown played on the legendary Blue Bombers Little League World Series championship team.

“When I was 12, those kids were all 10, but I played against them at Park View,” Orozco said. “And I played against Andrew Brown at Park View. He was one year younger than me, so he played against those guys as well.

“It was cool to watch them win the Little League World Series.”

That the three South County standouts have landed together at SDSU is a credit to the quality of baseball in the region, particularly the competitiveness in the Mesa League.

“It’s awesome,” Nevarez said. “We all knew each other growing up. We played ball together.”

Overall, there are nine San Diego County prep products on this year’s SDSU squad. Joining the three Chula Vistans are catcher Hunter Stratton (Grossmont), first baseman Jordan Verdon (Granite Hills), infielder David Hensley (Patrick Henry), left handed pitchers Marcus Reyes (Rancho Buena Vista) and Brett Seeburger (Vista) and right handed pitcher Kevin LaPierra (Granite Hills).

Brown is playing his third season with the Aztecs. He is the veteran of the trio of Chula Vista players.

“I’ve learned what real hard work is,” explained Brown, a member of SDSU’s MW tournament championship teams in 2014 and 2015. “It’s a long season and a long off-season. You learn to manage your time.”

A 2016 preseason second team all-conference selection by College Sports Madness, Brown spent the majority of his time at first base in 2015, though he made 11 appearances in the outfield and one at third base. He also served as a designated hitter 11 times.

Brown hit .441 during his four-team high school career and, as a junior, made it to the San Diego Section Division V championship game as a member of The Rock Academy.

“It was really cool for the school because we had not really done that well in baseball before then,” Brown explained. “There were a lot of naysayers. It was disappointing that we didn’t win but it was a good season. I think that if all the guys had come back the next year that we could have made it back. But we didn’t make the playoffs.”

A 2012 Perfect Game Preseason High School Underclass All-American High Honorable Mention player and 2013 Rawlings California Regional All-High School Senior Honorable Mention selection, Brown is hitting .234 with four doubles, one home run and 11 RBI this season at SDSU.

He hit. 294 in conference play last year (.348 at the MWC tournament); he tied for most doubles on the squad (17) and sixth in the MW.

A member of the Mountain West All-Academic Team, Brown lists one of his more cherished memories so far with the Aztecs as playing under the late legendary head coach Tony Gwynn his freshman year.

“I’ll take that with me forever,” he said.

While this is Orozco’s first year at SDSU, it is not his introduction to college baseball. He played one season at UC San Diego before transferring to Southwestern College. From SWC, Orozco made the jump to the Division I level with the Aztecs.

The former Otay Ranch hurler/infielder played under former SDSU assistant coach Jay Martel while at Southwestern.

“He opened a lot of doors for me,” Orozco said in reference to Martel. “There were a lot of opportunities. I was finally able to come here. He was a good mentor.”

While in a Jaguar uniform, Orozco made 16 appearances, including 12 starts with nine complete games. He compiled a 9-2 record with a 1.96 earned-run average. He struck out 53 batters and walked only nine in 92 innings pitched.

During the season, he earned a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week award as Southwestern advanced to the first round of the state playoffs.

Pitched a total of 10 innings at UC San Diego with a 0.90 ERA while limiting opponents to a 0.216 hitting average.

Twice named All-Mesa League Second Team while at Otay Ranch, Orozco entered Tuesday’s game with a 1-0 record, 6.30 earned-run average and 13 strikeouts in 20 innings covering 13 game appearances.

Between UC San Diego, Southwestern and SDSU, Orozco, a kinesiology major, hasn’t had to leave the region to play top quality college baseball.

“I have played in San Diego my whole life,” Orozco said. “It’s cool that I get to play in front of my parents and friends from high school. I’ve always been close to home.”

Nevarez played on the same Eastlake team with Dean Klaser last season. Klaser was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer following the 2014 football season and missed both the 2015 baseball and football campaigns.

“It was really hard for everyone, his family, his friends, his teammates,” Nevarez explained. “It was a big thunderbolt that hit the team. We tried to be supportive of him. He lost his hair. He lost weight. It was depressing but we were there to support him through the process. We were there with him in the hospital. It’s a terrible disease that kills people.”

Nevarez said Klaser’s plight helped spur the team emotionally throughout the season. The Titans recorded a school record 26 wins and advanced as far as the Division I championship game, placing runner-up to Poway.

“He was always there every game supporting us when he wasn’t in the hospital or had a doctor’s appointment,” the SDSU catcher explained. “He was our MVP for the season. We dedicated everything to him. He was the reason why we got so far.”

(Klaser has since been declared cancer-free and is set to re-enter Eastlake High School as a fifth-year senior in 2016-17.)

One of three catchers who has seen action behind the plate this season for the Aztecs, Nevarez played his first two seasons of high school baseball at Montgomery High School under legendary coach Manny Hermosillo before earning two varsity letters at Eastlake under coach Dave Gallegos.

As a sophomore, Nevarez hit .397 with six doubles, 15 runs scored and 10 RBI in 27 games. As a junior, he earned team MVP honors after leading the Titans in home runs and RBI. As a senior, he earned first team all-league honors and second team all-section honors

A Perfect Game 2015 California All-Region selection, Nevarez is hitting .228 with 13 runs scored, five doubles, two home runs and14 RBI in 27 games with SDSU this season.

All three South County players said the biggest challenges facing newcomers from the high school or junior college levels is the time commitment involved in playing collegiate baseball.

“It’s a grind,” Nevarez explained. “Everything is more difficult, starting with pregame batting practice. It’s a whole different level than high school. The intensity is very high.”

“You see it’s more of a grind here,” Brown added. “You can see there’s a lot of hard work and time commitment that goes into a season. Everything you do is a large load. You have to be prepared for that.”

“I played Division II and Junior College before coming here,” Orozco explained. “The biggest difference I see here from high school is the amount of work ethic to get ready for what is a really long season.”

While SDSU has played well against nationally-ranked opponents, the Aztecs have dropped other games – too many, in fact – to lesser competition that has contributed directly to this season’s disappointing record.

Orozco remains optimistic about the future.

“There’s more to achieve as a team,” he said. “I’m looking forward to coming back next year. We should have some new leaders and be able to get back to where we were in the Mountain West Conference tournament.”

Aztecs defeat No. 17 Cal State Fullerton, 7-2

San Diego State overcame an early two-run deficit with some solid pitching and timely hitting in a 7-2 victory over No. 17 Cal State Fullerton Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Aztecs, who improved to 13-30 on the year. It also ended a run of nine consecutive Titan wins in the series dating back to 2009.

Both teams came into the contest expecting to utilize a number of pitchers, and each side ended up sending six hurlers to the mound.

The Titans opened the game by scoring single runs in both the first and second innings against SDSU starter Dominic Purpura and reliever Dalton Douty to jump out to a quick 2-0 lead.

The Aztecs were determined to show that they were a better offensive team than they demonstrated in last month’s 8-1 loss in Fullerton, and they responded by taking the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third

Denz’l Chapman led off the inning with a triple, and after a walk to Justin Wylie and infield single by Chase Calabuig loaded the bases, Chapman scored on Alan Trejo’s sacrifice fly to right. Spencer Thornton then drive a two-run triple to right center to bring home Wylie and Calabuig to give SDSU a lead it would not relinquish. Thornton would score on a wild pitch to give the home team a 4-2 advantage.

The Aztecs would add a run in the next frame on another bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Trejo and then finished off the scoring by plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Those final two markers came on an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Chapman and a bases-loaded hit by pitch to Chase Calabuig.

Junior left-hander Marcus Reyes, who had come on to start the third inning, tossed three shutout innings surrendering one hit with two walks and two strikeouts. His effort earned him the victory to move his record to 1-4.

The pitching trio of Mike Diamond (two innings) along with Jacob Erickson and Chris Collins (one inning each) held the Titans scoreless over the final four innings allowing just one hit and a walk with five strikeouts.

Four Aztecs ended the evening with two hits apiece including Chapman (single, triple, RBI, run scored) and Thornton (single, triple, two RBI, two runs scored) plus Calabuig (RBI, run scored) and Tyler Adkison.

San Diego State will now prepare to hit the road for a three-game Mountain West road series at Fresno State this coming weekend. That set gets underway on Friday, May 6, at 6 p.m. at FSU’s Beiden Field.

— Dave Kuhn, SDSU Athletics