SAN FRANCISCO — On Thursday, March 12, the San Francisco State baseball team bus turned around when news broke that the season had been suspended by the CCAA. Later that day, the NCAA announced that NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors had canceled all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships. The team bus never even reached its final destination ahead of a scheduled four-game series at Cal State Dominguez Hills and it would turn out that the Gators' 4-1 home victory over Cal Poly Pomona would be the team's final game of the 2020 season. That series was affected by rain but the Gators picked up the split thanks to strong bullpen performances from senior relievers Sebastian Selway and Nate Jenkins.
At 14-8, the regionally-ranked Gators were on pace to easily surpass last season's 25 wins and eyeing a third consecutive trip to the CCAA Tournament. Instead, the season was cut short. Meanwhile, the only thing happening at Maloney Field is the grass growing as the entire campus stands still, yearning for the day when students – and the energy that they bring – returns. Sunday, April 26 marked the team's final home game of the regular season, a single game versus Sonoma State. That would have also been Senior Day and we honor the 2020 SF State baseball team's 14 seniors. While some of these student-athletes will return to play an additional season as granted by the NCAA, others will move onto the next chapter of their lives. We honor these 14 men together as teammates on the 2020 San Francisco State baseball team
POSITION PLAYERS
The team's only four-year letter winner,
Jackson Kritsch was the first player in program history to be named to the
Google Cloud (CoSIDA) Academic All-America® Team, having earned the honor as a sophomore in 2018. The middle infielder is also a two-time Google Cloud (CoSIDA) Academic All-District
® First Team selection. In 2018, he was named to the
ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division II All-West Region Second Team,
D2CCA All-West Region Second Team, and was an
All-CCAA Second Team Shortstop and the CCAA Championships Scholar Award winner. Kritsch has appeared in 151 games as a Gator and has a career .310 batting average. This season, the Westlake Village, California native appeared in all 22 games and led the CCAA with a .413 batting average. Kritsch's 33 hits were second among conference players. He will graduate with a degree in Accounting.
After one season at Los Medanos Junior College,
Jason Hare has led the Gators behind the dish for the past three seasons. He has appeared in 100 career games and is a career .273 batter, including a season-high .299 in 2019. Defensively, he sports a .989 fielding percentage. His 14 walks were eighth among CCAA players. The Danville, California native recently earned the
2020 NSCA All-American Athlete Award. He is will graduate with a degree in Business Administration.
After two seasons at San Mateo that included a redshirt season,
Jonah Gonzales has been an impact player for the last two seasons at San Francisco State. The Aptos, California native has a .353 career batting average and a .444 on-base percentage. He posted back-to-back 15 steal seasons, which led the CCAA this season. This season, he was also in the CCAA's Top 10 in triples (2nd, 3), RBI (4th, 22), runs (8th, 21), and hits (9th, 30). He is pursuing a degree in Communications.
Justin Cooney-Sylk transferred from Menlo, where he played two seasons. The La Quinta, California native redshirted for the Gators in 2018, then appeared in 11 games last season. The outfielder appeared in a dozen more this season and posted a perfect fielding percentage. He will graduate with a degree in Finance.
Mitch Sancier attended Santa Barbara City College, where he redshirted in 2016, then played two seasons. He appeared in 10 games with five starts in his first season with the Gators. This season, he appeared in seven games with six starts and posted a .400/.478/.500 triple slash. The backstop was also perfect defensively this season, amassing a career .967 fielding percentage. The Campbell, California native is pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice.
Kevin Page spent two seasons at Reedley College, where he earned a CVC Gold Glove and All-Conference honors in 2018. The versatile Page pitched, caught, and played the infield, where most of his time came for the Gators. He hit .429 this season and was on a three-game hit streak when the season ended. The Cerritos, California native is majoring in Recreation, Parks, & Tourism.
Rudy Aguilar joined San Francisco State after transferring from St. John's, where he appeared in 30 games with 29 starts. In 19 games and 18 starts this season, the middle infielder hit .250 and helped turn 10 double plays. The Saugus, California native is pursuing a degree in Psychology.
PITCHERS
The ace of the staff this season,
Jack Higgins was in his third season with SF State after spending a couple of seasons at Los Medanos College. Last season, he tallied five wins en route to an All-CCAA Honorable Mention. This season, he was 2-2 with a career-low 2.90 ERA, which ranks 12th in the CCAA. He has pitched 114.2 career innings with 88 strikeouts. The Lafayette, California native has a 4.24 career ERA and is working towards a degree in Finance.
Riley Cleary played two seasons at Los Medanos College, where he was named Bay Valley Conference MVP his sophomore year. He has both pitched and played in the outfield for the Gators. Cleary may be best remembered for his 2019 postseason performance, which included the win over No. 4 UC San Diego. In that game, he worked into the seventh inning and limited the Tritons to one run on three hits. He also hit .308 with three runs scored and a pair of RBI in the tournament and named to the CCAA All-Tournament Team. As a Gator, he has posted a career .264 batting average and 4.28 ERA. The Antioch, California native is working towards a degree in Business Administration.
Nate Jenkins joined San Francisco State from Diablo Valley College, where he pitched for two seasons. This season, the Concord, California native had four wins, all out of the bullpen, which was second-most among CCAA pitchers. He also tallied a pair of saves, which was fifth most in the conference. Last season, he made a team-high 18 pitching appearances with one spot start. He had a 2.84 ERA this season and has pitched 50 career innings for the Gators.
Before joining San Francisco State,
Sebastian Selway spent 2016-18 at West Valley College, where he earned Coast Golden Gate First Team All-League starting pitcher honors. He moved to the bullpen for the Gators, where he has made 28 career appearances, including a team-high 11 this season, which is the most by any CCAA pitcher. This season he has a 1.80 ERA, lowering his career ERA to 2.70. He has tossed 43.1 innings for the Gators. The San Jose, California native is working towards a degree in Business Marketing.
A native of Honduras,
Luis Salinas played two seasons and redshirted one at Sacramento City College before arriving in San Francisco. In two seasons with the Gators, Salinas has tossed 35 innings and led the team with a miniscule .66 ERA this season, going 1-0 and allowing just one run in six appearances. He finishes with a 3.86 career ERA. Salinas is working towards a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Cameron Crone pitched two seasons at Monterey Peninsula College and later transferred to San Francisco State, where he joined his brother Kyler as a teammate. In 2018, Crone appeared in 20 games and recorded 41 strikeouts, the most of any Gators reliever. On May 5, 2018, the Salinas, California native pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure the win and propel the Gators into the CCAA Championships for the first time in program history. He made one appearance in 2019 but suffered a season-ending injury. He returned to the mound on March 7 in what would be the Gators' final series of the season. Crone is pursuing a degree in Business Management.
Hudson Hartley attended Bakersfield College for three seasons, where he competed for two and redshirted another. In his first season with the Gators, the Bakersfield, California native was limited to five innings of work in four relief appearances due to injury. This season, he made four appearances with a 2.45 ERA. He allowed three hits in three and two thirds innings of work. Hartley will graduate with a degree in Communications.
