The San Jose State Spartans baseball team represents San José State University in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

as a member of the Mountain West Conference. San Jose State fielded its first baseball team in 1890, although the current SJSU baseball media guide only provides records dating back to 1911. The team plays its home games at

San Jose Municipal Stadium Excite Ballpark, previously known as San Jose Municipal Stadium or Muni Stadium, is a baseball park in San Jose, California. It is the home of the Minor League Baseball San Jose Giants, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. The team plays in ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. The team formerly played select home games at Blethen Field, which was located on San Jose State's south campus. In 2014, SJSU released plans to build a new baseball stadium to replace Blethen Field.

History

The team first took the field in 1890. Known back then as the Normalites, the men's baseball beat a local high school team in the first recognized game. From 1911 through the 2013 season, the SJSU baseball team compiled a win–loss record of 1,878–1,696 (.525). From 1965–2021, 104 Spartans were taken in the

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

draft and 19 were signed by MLB teams. As of 2021, seven former Spartans are active professional baseball players in both major and minor leagues. The Spartan baseball team has made NCAA Tournament appearances in 1955, 1971, 2000 and 2002. In 2000, the team advanced to the College World Series. From 1997–2013, the SJSU baseball team competed in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

, earning three WAC pennants in 1997, 2000 and 2009. Under head coach and SJSU alumnus Sam Piraro (1987–2012), the SJSU baseball team reached the 30-win mark 17 times (including five 40+ wins seasons) and appeared in the national rankings 47 times. The SJSU baseball team has fielded 16 All-Americans including four first-team selections.

All-time record vs. current Mountain West teams

As of the conclusion of the

2019 NCAA Division I baseball season The 2019 NCAA Division I Baseball season, play of college baseball in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division I level, began February 15, 2019. The season progressed through the regula ...

San Jose State in the NCAA Tournament

The Spartans are 7–10 (.412) all-time in the

NCAA Division I Baseball Championship The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebr ...

Major League Baseball

San José State has had 96 Major League Baseball draft selections since the draft began in 1965.

Making it to Omaha

Under the direction of head coach Sam Piraro, the Spartans played in the College World Series in 2000 in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. The eight teams who accompanied the Spartans in Omaha were Clemson,

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Louisiana State Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisian ...

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Louisiana-Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

, and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. San Jose State was eliminated after the first round of the tournament by the number four seed, the Clemson Tigers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:San Jose State Spartans Baseball Baseball teams established in 1911 1911 establishments in California