San Diego State baseball: Shaun Cole era begins for the Aztecs

Shaun Cole becomes the sixth San Diego State head baseball coach in the program's 88-year history.

SDSU, picked for fourth place in a Mountain West preseason coaches poll, opens the season this weekend with three-game series against Portland

Feb. 15, 2024 10:45 AM PT

San Diego State has had only five baseball coaches in its 88-year history.

Make that six now, with new coach Shaun Cole making his debut in Friday night’s season opener against Portland at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

Cole served the past two seasons as SDSU’s pitching coach before replacing Mark Martinez last summer.

Cole’s stated goals are ambitious — win the Mountain West and play in an NCAA Regional this season, reach a Super Regional in 2025 and advance to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series in 2026.

“If we fall short shooting for the stars, then that’s on me at the end of the day,” Cole said. “But I’m not going to dance around it. I’m not going to say this is a rebuild year or any of that stuff. This is a foundational year for the program, and the expectations here should be high.”

2023 record: 24-25 overall; 18-11 Mountain West

Top returners: The lineup includes three returning starters in senior SS Xavier Gonzalez (.247, 21 RBIs), a Hilltop High School graduate who started all 53 games last season, junior RF Shaun Montoya (.298, 15 RBIs, 16 SB) and junior CF Irvin Weems (.266, 3 HR, 19 RBIs, 11 SB). Senior 1B Brady Lavoie (La Costa Canyon High School) and junior C Evan Sipe (San Marcos High School) also move into starting spots after having limited roles a year ago.

Two of the team’s starting pitchers — junior LHP Chris Canada (3-5, 5.69 ERA, 72 SO/29 BB) and junior RHP Omar Serrano (1-5, 5.43, 62 SO/21 BB) — also are back. Both were picked on the preseason all-MW team.

Sophomore RHP Xavier Cardenas (1-0, 3.31 ERA, 24 SO/16 BB) moves from a relief role into the starting rotation.

Key additions: Three freshmen — LF Jake Jackson (Madison High School), 2B Finley Bates and 3B Colby Turner — have earned their way into the starting lineup. A notable transfer is graduate RHP Jacob Riordan, who set a school record at Arkansas-Pine Bluff last season with 87 strikeouts (in 67 innings).

Outlook: SDSU shared the Mountain West regular-season championship with San Jose State last season, but a preseason coaches poll placed the Aztecs fourth — behind the Spartans, Fresno State and Air Force — in the seven-team MW.

Cole’s response: “Thank you for giving us motivation.”

SDSU opens the season this weekend with a three-game home series against Portland.

The second week of the season features the annual Tony Gwynn Legacy event, which includes Missouri, Cal State Bakersfield and Utah. Cole said Chris Gwynn will throw out the first pitch in the Feb. 23 game against Missouri.

A week later, the Aztecs jump into conference play with a three-game series at Fresno State. SDSU plays an unbalanced, 30-game conference schedule that features only one series against San Jose State and UNLV and two series against Air Force, Fresno State, Nevada and New Mexico.

SDSU will have one eye on maintaining the best ERA (4.87) in the MW and the other eye on improving an offense that ranked last in average (.249), home runs (34) and runs (260, 4.9 rpg).

Mountain West Tournament: The four-team double-elimination tournament takes place May 23-26 at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The winner receives the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Regionals.