March 12, 1999
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State's Sean Pierce scored on aninfield single in the bottom of the 12th, lifting the Aztecs to a 5-4 win overtop-ranked Rice Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win improved SDSU's seasonrecord to 14-10 (4-0 WAC) while dropping Rice to 20-5 (3-1 WAC).
The Aztecs received masterful pitching from Aaron Harang andA.J. Samadani (4-2), who combined to strike out 17 batters.
After SDSU took a 2-0 lead in the second, Rice got on the board onZane Curry's single, a double by Charles Williams, and Jason Gray'sinfield out. The Owls then took the lead with two runs in the sixth on anRBI single by Will Ford and a sacrifice bunt from Jason Berg that scoredDamon Thames.
Rice's fourth run came in the eighth on singles by Thames, Ford andJacob Baker, but Samadani allowed the Owls only two singles by Fordthe rest of the game.
SDSU's winning rally came after two out in the 12th. Pierce walked andChad Chop singled through the right side, sending Pierce to third.Stephen Bess then replaced Kurtz-Nicholl on the mound for the Owls,but his 1-2 pitch was chopped to Thames at shortstop, whose hurriedthrow to first was up the line.
The loss was Rice's first at Tony Gwynn Stadium after 11 straight wins,including 4-0 marks in the 1997 and '98 WAC tournaments. It was also thethe first time the Owls have lost the first game of a WAC seriessince 1997, a streak that had reached 14 straight.
The Owls and Aztecs play the second game of the three-game seriesSaturday night at 7:00 p.m.
Rice 001 002 010 000 - 4 11 3SDSU 020 000 020 001 - 5 9 2
Mario Ramos, Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl (8), Stephen Bess (12) and Zane Curry.
Aaron Harang, A.J. Samadani (7) and Brandon Rogers.
W-Samadani, 4-2. L- Kurtz-Nicholl, 1-1. Save- none.
2B -- Rice: Charles Williams.
Time -- 3:35. Att. -- 425.