With a win over Jessup University on Tuesday, the Gators have won 14 of their last 16 games and rank second in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. In what may be the final baseball season in San Francisco State University history, the Gators are red-hot rolling into the final two weeks of the regular season.
Over this 16-game stretch, SFSU outscored their opponents 154-70.
Position players Michael Cunningham and Daniel Murillo have been two of the best hitters in the conference, leading the charge for SFSU’s no. 1-ranked offense in the CCAA.
Cunningham broke the all-time SFSU program home run record this weekend, hitting his 23rd career home run and his conference-leading 14th home run of the season.
After missing the entire 2024 campaign with a fractured spine, Cunningham has recovered remarkably this season and looks poised to play at the Division I level next year.
“When we execute the way we should, these are going to be the results,” Cunningham said. “We could’ve been doing this the entire season. This is just a byproduct of going into every week focused, and now everything is clicking all at once.”
Murillo has shown consistency all season, setting the tone at the top of the order. He’s hitting .400 this season, with 47 runs, 11 homers and 35 RBIs.
As a team, the Gators lead the conference in batting average (.341), hits (501), total bases (781) and slugging percentage (.532).
Despite these gaudy numbers, a team’s pitching and defense are equally important in winning games.
“The pitching has been a plus for us,” Murillo said. “Our pitching and defense have helped us get into a groove in the second half of the season.”
The pitching staff has held opponents to five or fewer runs 25 times this year, keeping the Gators in games when things are bleak offensively.
The one-two punch of pitchers David Eichhorn and Nathan Shinn have combined for a 12-2 record over 112.2 innings of work while surrendering just 51 earned runs.
Shinn has posted an impressive 3.53 ERA in 58.2 innings of work this season, and his 65 strikeouts rank the second most in the conference.
Eichhorn has been just as dominant with a 5-0 record and a 3.00 ERA in 54 innings. He is also the only Gator pitcher to have tossed a complete game shutout this season, which came against number one ranked California State University, Dominguez Hills on March 9.
The Gators’ pitching staff has the third-lowest team ERA in the conference, the second-most strikeouts and has held opponents to a .267 batting average, also second-best in the conference.
Head coach Tony Schifano and the coaching staff made an adjustment to the pitching rotation to utilize the entire pitching staff, rather than a traditional three-to-four-man rotation.
“I told the team the other day that we’ve pitched extremely well in the second half of the season,” Schifano said. “We’ve decided to use everybody. For example, this past weekend against Sonoma, every single pitcher threw in the series. It keeps everybody motivated and ready to go when their name is called.”
With the success that the Gators have had over the past month of games, they have a strong chance to find themselves in the American Baseball Coaches Association top 25 rankings among all Division II programs.
The Gators look to keep their dominant stretch rolling through their final two conference series, which includes their final home stand this weekend versus Bay Area rival California State University, East Bay before finishing their regular season on the road against California State University, Monterey Bay.
Senior Day is this Sunday at Maloney Field and will include a special alumni ceremony in the fifth inning as a final farewell to SFSU baseball. The game will be broadcast on FloCollege here.
