The San Diego State University baseball team provided quite a few highlights throughout the 2018 season, tops among them were winning the Mountain West Conference tournament championship and earning a berth in the NCAA Division I regionals.
East County product Jordan Verdon was among several Aztecs rewarded during the team’s championship run.
The former Granite Hills High School standout was one of three SDSU players to earn first team All-Mountain West honors, joining teammates Chase Calabuig, a senior outfielder, and junior right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill.
The San Diego State University baseball team provided quite a few highlights throughout the 2018 season, tops among them were winning the Mountain West Conference tournament championship and earning a berth in the NCAA Division I regionals.
East County product Jordan Verdon was among several Aztecs rewarded during the team’s championship run.
The former Granite Hills High School standout was one of three SDSU players to earn first team All-Mountain West honors, joining teammates Chase Calabuig, a senior outfielder, and junior right-handed pitcher Garrett Hill.
Verdon, a junior infielder, also earned a pro baseball contract following the end of the season.
One of five Aztecs tabbed in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, Verdon was selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 23rd round.
He signed with the Tigers on June 18 and was subsequently assigned to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Tigers West in Lakeland, Florida.
In six GCL games, Verdon had made 22 plate appearances with nine hits, including four doubles and one triple, five runs scored and eight RBI.
The Tigers obviously liked what they saw in the former GHHS standout.
Verdon ranked second on the Aztecs with a .333 batting average in 60 game appearances this past spring.
He scored 44 runs, belted out 79 hits, including 27 doubles, one triple and 12 home runs, and collected a team high 65 RBI.
The home runs and doubles also stood as team highs this past season.
SDSU finished 39-21 on season, advancing to the Corvalis regional where the third-seeded Aztecs finished the season with a 6-4 loss to second-ranked LSU (6-4) and a 9-0 setback to Northwestern State in an elimination game.
Verdon, one of three former Grossmont Conference prep standouts on this season’s team, clubbed a double — his 40th extra base hit of the season, the most by an Aztec player since 1984 — and scored a run in the loss to LSU.
Verdon joined freshman right-handed pitcher Casey O’Sullivan (Valhalla) and freshman outfielder/right-handed pitcher Sean Ross (Granite Hills) as fellow East County products on the 2018 SDSU team.
A 2017 Rawlings-Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American, O’Sullivan posted a career 1.96 ERA during three varsity seasons at Valhalla, including a career-best 1.23 ERA in 57 innings pitched as a senior.
He struck out 85 batters and walked just 17 as a junior.
O’Sullivan was 1-0 in 19 appearances in 2018 for the Aztecs, recording a 2.84 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 25.1 innings pitched.
Drafted in the 40th round by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Ross hit .359 during senior high school season in 30 games, stroked eight home runs, 19 RBI, 15 doubles and scored 21 runs.
Ross hit .333 in 12 games this season at SDSU, starting three games.
He had six hits in 18 plate appearances, scoring three runs and driving in two runs
Honor roll
Hill, a native of Petaluma, earned the 2018 MW Co-Pitcher of the Year award with San Jose State’s Andrew Mitchel.
Three SDSU players earned selection to the all-conference second team: junior designated hitter Chad Bible (College of the Canyons), senior left-handed pitcher Jacob Erickson (Mater Dei High School) and sophomore outfielder Julian Escobedo (Eastlake High School).
The five players taken in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft ties for the Aztecs’ largest draft class since 2014.
Other Aztecs taken in the MLB draft included junior catcher Dean Nevarez (19th round by the Seattle Mariners), Hill (26th round by Detroit), senior infielder David Hensley (26th round by the Houston Astros) and Calabuig (27th round by the Oakland Athletics).
Nevarez, who earned a spot on this year’s MWC all-tournament team, started 53 games this season, including 49 behind the plate.
He finished third on the team with eight home runs and capped his junior season with a .294 hitting average.
Hill, the 2018 Mountain West Co-Pitcher of the Year and a Mountain West All-Tournament team selection, led SDSU with seven wins, 72 strikeouts and 78.1 innings pitched while posting a 3.91 ERA in 16 appearances, including 15 starts.
Hensley, a Patrick Henry High School alumnus, played every position but catcher over his four-year career with the Aztecs.
A 2017 All-Mountain West Second Team pick, he hit .317 with three home runs and 34 RBI in 2018.
Calabuig, who is the Aztec record holder in games played and sits fourth in career hits, capped his four-year career with Mountain West First Team honors after leading the team with a .350 batting average and a .421 on-base percentage.
SDSU finished the season with its fifth conference tournament championship in the last six years.
Summer horizons
While the 2018 collegiate season may be over for the Aztecs, preparation for the next season is just starting.
Sixteen student-athletes from the SDSU are participating in summer baseball seasons across five different collegiate leagues.
Six Aztecs are competing in the Northwoods League, including Ross, while five are seeing action in the Alaska Baseball League, including O’Sullivan.
