In 2009, the Spartan baseball team ended a historic season that witnessed a 41 win season, a 9-0 start and the highest team batting average (.339) in school history.
The NCAA tournament committee was not impressed come selection day.
SJSU was left at home despite its 41-20 overall record and Western Athletic Conference championship just a year after Fresno State had won the national title out of the WAC.
Only 13 teams in the field of 64 that qualified for the 2009 tournament had more wins than the Spartan’s 41. Fifty-one of the teams that were included in the bracket had less wins than the absent Spartans.
Utah qualified that year with a 26-29 record after an automatic bid and Baylor’s 29-24 mark was apparently enough to deserve the nod over the Spartans.
“I’m a believer that any experience is good for you,” head coach Sam Piraro said. “Adversity doesn’t knock us out of the box; we learn something from going through it.”
A driving force behind the 41 win season was the relentless offensive assault that shattered the school’s record for team batting average set in 1993.
The old mark of .319 set in 1993 was eclipsed by the 09’ Spartans by 20 percentage points and featured a lineup crowded with gaudy batting averages.
While most of the pitching that contributed to the WAC championship season has departed, there are still a number of bats on the 2011 roster who were instrumental to the success of the 09’ team.
“I have had about seven or eight no brainer NCAA tournament teams in my years here,” Piraro said. “After Fresno’s championship season, their coach (Mike Batesole) called me and told me that our group in 2009 was just as good if not better than the team’s Fresno State had knocked out of the tournament the year before.”
Perennial baseball powerhouses like Long Beach State, Rice, North Carolina, and finally Georgia all fell to the Bulldogs of Fresno State during their improbable 2008 tournament run.
“Mike isn’t a guy that blows smoke either,” Piraro said. “He wasn’t joking when he said that.”
Cinderella stories weren’t enough to garner the WAC an addition bid in 2009, as Fresno State was granted a birth to the tournament despite having nine fewer wins than SJSU.
“When Fresno State won it all it showed that our conference isn’t as weak as other people think it is,” current centerfielder Jason Martin said. “It kind of hurt not getting selected the next year, I really didn’t understand why.”
Martin returns with that same chip on his shoulder that festered last year during a season in which the Spartans finished with just 23 wins.
“Last year we learned a lot of hard lessons and we were rebuilding,” Martin said. “Our pitching this year will be a lot stronger and our bats are starting to wake up.”
Martin enters his senior year as the catalyst and table setter of Piraro’s lineup. His .373 batting average led the team a season ago, marking the third straight year that Martin has hit .300 or better while wearing the blue and gold.
Martin’s success in the leadoff spot has translated into several SJSU school records and is he is quickly approaching more milestones.
54 times Martin has been hit by a pitch as a member of the Spartans; bruises that have earned him the top spot in school history in that category. Martin is also third in runs scored (148) and fifth in school history with 225 hits.
Sophomore Zack Jones will solidify the middle of the order after showing as a freshman that he is not only a weapon on the mound.
“The ball sounds really different off of his bat,” Piraro said at Bay Area Media Day. “It’s like a cannon shot.”
Jones finished 2010 at the plate with a .310 batting average, four homeruns and a .529 slugging percentage. His dual-threat ability earned him the 2010 WAC Freshman of the year and notoriety from major league scouts.
Joining Martin and Jones in the lineup will be fellow seniors Kerry Jenkins and Danny Stienstra who were both contributors with the stick last year.
Jenkins enters the season as one of two returning Spartans with more than three homeruns a year ago, and will be sandwiched somewhere in the middle of the lineup to utilize his power.
Jenkins blasted four homeruns and finished with 24 Runs Batted In for the year in 2010 in only 111 at-bats. Now that he has found a place to play every day in the outfield, look for his productivity to go up with increased opportunities.
Stienstra was a large part of the 41 win team two years ago as he hit .337 as a sophomore playing primarily first base. His average declined a year ago as Stienstra managed to hit just .265 to follow up his sophomore campaign. A bounce back year for Stienstra will give Piraro another tough out in his lineup.
Added protection in the lineup from comes from senior Craig Hertler and sophomore outfielder Tim Quiery. Quiery hit .344 a year ago in 157 at-bats while Hertler is a versatile defensively player who hit .322 in 2009.
A pair of impressive freshman also brings new life to the 2011 lineup, as Matt Carroll and Caleb Natov have both looked good at the plate and are youngsters Piraro is excited about.
“Carroll probably has the most pure power on the team,” Piraro said. “He gives me the option of going with an all offensive lineup if I choose to.”
Junior college transfer Michael DiRocco will do the majority of the catching duties this season but depth is an issue at the position for Piraro.
“I think catcher is kind of like the quarterback position in football,” Piraro said at Bay Area Media Day. “You’re only as good as your backup.”
Junior Anthony Bona and freshman Trevin Craig are the only other catchers listed on the Spartans’ roster going into the season.
“Behind DiRocco, we are inexperienced,” Piraro said. “I am going to have to speed up the learning curve of the other guys and keep him (DiRocco) healthy.”
Infielders Tyler Christian and Michael Reiling round out the lineup and are both looking to find their role with increased playing time in 2011.
“Were still competing for positions in the infield,” Piaro said.”
Reiling had 12 RBI a year ago and hit .615 with a runner at third and less than two outs. Christian finished with two homeruns a year ago, primarily as a pinch-hitter.
Piraro’s returns experience and talent up and down the lineup in 2011 to compliment the crop of promising freshman.
Unlike last year, the bats won’t have to do all the work as the Spartans have a formidable rotation and deep bullpen that will take the pressure off of the lineup.
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