Feb. 11, 2001
San Diego -
Carlo Cota's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth capped a San Diego State comeback as the Aztecs defeated Houston, 5-4, Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win gave SDSU a 2-1 edge in the weekend series with the Cougars and allowed them to gain possession of the Moores Cup, a trophy honoring the owner of the San Diego Padres (John Moores) whose philanthropy has benefited both institutions.
Aztec reliever Royce Ring (1-0) picked up the win for the Aztecs while Austin Faught, who went the final 1.2 innings for Houston, drew his second loss of the weekend. Both schools ended the weekend with identical 3-3 records on the season.
San Diego jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, thanks to the heads-up base running of freshman Anthony Gwynn. After being hit by a pitch from starter Gene Flores, he advanced to second on a groundout by shortstop Taber Lee. A wild pitch advanced him to third, and with no Cougar covering the plate, he continued running and scored easily.
However, the Aztec lead was short-lived as Houston came back with a pair of runs in the third on a sacrifice fly by center fielder Michael Bourn and a two-out error that allowed Hyung Cho to score from third. UH added a run in the fifth when Bourn singled, stole second, and came home on a single by designated hitter Josh Snook.
As they did Friday evening, the Aztecs came back with some late-inning heroics. Ben Leuthard and Sean Pierce led off the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back singles, and they moved up a base on a balk by Flores. Gwynn followed with a double down the right field line to tie the game, and he scored the go-ahead run on the ensuing double by Cota.
Houston knotted the score in its half of the eighth on a solo home run by third baseman Chris Klosterman off SDSU reliever Marco Mendoza.
Not to be outdone, left fielder Landon Burt led off the Aztec ninth with a double and moved to third on a single by Gwynn. An intentional walk to Lee then set the stage for Cota's game-winning hit.
Both Gwynn and Cota finished the day by going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Leuthard also contributed three singles to the Aztec cause. For the Cougars, Bourn was 2-for-4 with a run scored, an RBI and a pair of stolen bases.
Up next for San Diego State is the ninth annual San Diego Classic at Tony Gwynn Stadium beginning Thursday, Feb. 15. The Classic field includes Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oregon State, UC Riverside and the University of San Diego in addition to SDSU. Texas Tech meets UC Riverside on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. and the Aztecs open against Oregon State that same evening at 6:00 p.m.
San Diego State 5, Houston 4UH 002 010 010 - 4 6 1SDSU 100 000 301 - 5 11 3Flores, Faught (7), Hooper (9) and SnyderHarrand, Mendoza (6), Skinner (9), Ring (9) and Perdue, Manfred (8)W - Ring (1-0)L - Faught (0-2)SV - NoneHR - UH: Klosterman (1)Att. - 328