By snoadmin
An eight-game winning streak versus an eight-game losing streak.
That’s how the Dirtbags match up to San Diego State coming into their second non-conference game of the season against Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn’s struggling team. Tonight’s game is at 6 p.m. in San Diego.
After showing promise earlier in the season and briefly flirting with the top-30 national rankings, once again the Aztecs (27-25) find themselves in a familiar place – near the bottom with no post-season in sight.
The Dirtbags (30-14), on the other hand, are thriving. They are coming off two straight sweeps of Pacific and the highly touted Cal Poly. Their performance as of late has put them atop the Big West conference standings, ahead of UC Riverside, UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton. However, the lead is far from being a comfortable one, as the Dirtbags stand only one game ahead of UC Riverside.
But this non-conference game doesn’t put the Dirtbags in any danger of tying. And if the game goes anything like it did the last time, they won’t have anything to worry about.
The last time these two teams met was exactly two weeks ago at Blair Field. Manny McElroy and Adam Wilk combined for a three-hit shutout while Matt Cline went 3-for-3 with a run and an RBI in the Dirtbags’ 4-0 win.
Facing off on the mound tonight are the Dirtbags’ usual Saturday starter, Omar Arif, and the Aztecs’ Charles Nolte, who started against the Dirtbags two weeks ago.
Arif, who has 3.12 ERA and 31 strikeouts under his belt this season, is holding opponents to a .293 batting average.
Nolte, on the other hand, has not fared as well this season. Nolte owns a somewhat inflated 7.20 ERA and has struck out 12 in seven appearances, although he does have a lower opponent average of .288.
But Nolte will arguably have a difficult time pitching to Long Beach State’s red-hot offense. With seven hitters batting over .300 and another five not far behind, Nolte’s ERA could potentially inflate some more.
Offensively, SDSU’s statistics rival LBSU’s, with both teams having similar numbers across the board.
SDSU’s best overall hitter is Nick Romero, who has hit six homeruns and has 44 RBIs.
The Aztecs are also very strong at home, going 17-9 at Tony Gywnn Stadium while going only 7-15 on the road.
With the Dirtbags’ victory over Cal Poly Friday, they have already won more games this season than they had during the 2006 campaign.
This will be the second nationally televised game of the season for the Dirtbags, broadcast on CSTV and shown online at CSTV.com.
