Feb. 9, 2001
San Diego - San Diego State scored a pair of unearned runs in the eighth inning, allowing them to come back to defeat the visiting Houston Cougars, 3-2, Friday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The game was the first of three to be contested by the teams in San Diego this weekend as both teams evened their season records at 2-2.
The Cougars got on the board first when a two-out wild pitch by Aztec starter Chris Hartshorn allowed right fielder Sam Mitchell to score in the third. Mitchell had gotten aboard on a walk, advanced to second on a balk, and reached third on a fielder's choice. Houston doubled its advantage in the fourth Josh Snook scored from third on an RBI grounder to short by Sam Mitchell.
San Diego State came back with a run in the sixth as Carlo Cota's foul pop down the right field line score Anthony Gwynn who had singled to open the inning.
In the eighth, SDSU loaded the bases with one out on a single by Pilar Amaya, a walk to Anthony Gwynn, and an intentional base on balls to Cota. Pinch hitter Daryl Harang then hit a grounder to third that went between the legs Cougar third baseman Chris Klosterman into left field, scoring Gwynn and pinch runner Sean Pierce.
Aztec reliever Chris Dunwell (1-0), who had come in with one out in the sixth, struck out the side in the ninth to record his first win of the season. UH's Austin Faught (0-1) was the hard-luck loser for the Cougars.
With both coaches limiting their starters work in the early season, UH starter Brad Sullivan or SDSU's Hartshorn were pulled midway through the game. Sullivan allowed just one hit and struck out five in his five innings of work while Hartshorn gave up four hits and two runs (one earned) in 5.2 innings.
The Aztecs and Cougars continue their three-game weekend series on Saturday, Feb. 10, when they meet in game two at 4:00 p.m. (PST) at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The series concludes on Sunday (Feb. 11) at 2:00 p.m. (PST)
San Diego State 3, Houston 2UH 001 100 000 - 2 4 1SDSU 000 001 02x - 3 5 3Sullivan, Torina (6), Faught (8), Hooper (8) and SnyderHartshorn, Dunwell (6) and Rosenthal, Manfred (8)W - Dunwell (1-0)L - Faught (0-1)SV - NoneHR - NoneAtt - 398