San Diego State University junior Casey Schmitt is among three Aztecs named to the 2020 All-Mountain West baseball team.
The honor is the latest in a series of awards for the 2017 Eastlake High School graduate.
Since no league games were played due to the COVID-19 pandemic and because of an unbalanced competitive schedule, there were no awards issued for the MW Player of the Year, MW Pitcher of the Year, MW Freshman of the Year and MW Coach of the Year.
In addition, the conference selected just one all-MW team instead of first and second-team selections as in recent years.
A consensus preseason All-American as a utility player, Schmitt tied for the national lead with six saves in just eight relief appearances on the mound, which was also tops in the Mountain West.
He finished with a 3.75 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 12.0 innings. With his performances, the SDSU junior moved into fourth place on the school’s all-time list with 23 career saves.
Earlier, Schmitt was named Mountain West Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 24 after posting consecutive saves against Power 5 schools Iowa and Nebraska at the Tony Gwynn Legacy (Feb. 21-22) to go with another save earlier that week against No. 24 Cal State Fullerton (Feb. 18).
The Eastlake High alumnus also saved games against 2018 national champion Oregon State (March 1), helping SDSU earn a series split, as well as at No. 11/14 Oklahoma (March 6).
As the Aztecs’ starting third baseman, Schmitt overcame a slow start at the plate to finish among the Mountain West leaders in several categories, including batting average (11th— .323), hits (tied for 12th — 20), slugging percentage (19th — .452) and on-base percentage (20th —.386). He was just beginning to heat up before the COVID-19 pandemic, ending the year with a six-game hitting streak while notching two or more hits in his final four contests.
On March 9, Schmitt merited MW Player of the Week on March 9 after leading the Aztecs in numerous categories in four games vs. No. 17/17 Long Beach State (March 3) and Oklahoma (March 6-8), including batting average (.500), on-base percentage (.500), slugging percentage (.833), hits (nine), RBI (six) doubles (two) and triples (two).
Schmitt joins SDSU teammates Matt Rudick and Troy Melton on the 2020 All-WW team.
A right-handed pitcher, Melton (3-1) shared the Mountain West lead with three victories. The Aztec sophomore ranked among the conference leaders in several categories, including opposing player batting average (third — .192), fewest hits allowed (third — 15), runs allowed (tied for fourth — nine), ERA (seventh — 3.22) and innings pitched (seventh — 22.1).
Rudick, a junior outfielder, finished third on the Aztecs with a .313 hitting average and led the team with a .478 slugging percentage, 21 hits and 13 runs scored.
San Diego State, which was picked to finish first in the MW preseason poll, posted a 10-6 record in its first 16 games of the abbreviated 2020 campaign.
