March 3, 2001
San Diego - For the second night in a row, a ninth-inning Aztec rally fell short as San Diego State wasted a fine pitching performance by starter Chris Dunwell in a 6-4 loss to Arkansas Saturday night at the Hormel Foods Classic in Minneapolis. With the loss, SDSU's record fell to 8-7 on the year while the Razorbacks improved to 9-4.
Dunwell (1-2) pitched into the eighth inning, allowing four runs on four hits as he suffered his second defeat of the year. Arkansas starter Scott Roehl (1-0) picked up the win, going five innings before turning the game over to Josh Merryman who recorded his first save of the season.
After Arkansas opened the scoring with a run in the bottom of the first, SDSU had several opportunities to put runs on the board, only to come up empty. The Aztecs finally tied the contest in the fifth when shortstop Taber Lee singled in Anthony Gwynn with two outs. However, they left the bases loaded in that same inning and stranded a total of seven runners over the first five frames. <
The contest did not stay tied long as Arkansas struck for two runs in its half of the fifth on a two-out RBI double by Cliff Crouse who scored on an ensuing single by Luke Weatherford. The Aztecs cut the deficit to one in the seventh on a leadoff triple by Anthony Gwynn and RBI single by Lee.
Gwynn and Lee accounted for almost half of SDSU's hits on the night with three apiece. Gwynn also scored three times while Lee accounted for all four of the Aztecs' RBIs in the game.
The Razorbacks broke the game open with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. After Dunwell walked Crouse to open the inning, he was replaced on the mound by sophomore Chris Hartshorn. Another walk put runners on first and second, and with two outs first baseman Kyle Washburn hit a shot into left center that hit the outfield wall and ricocheted past the SDSU outfielders toward center field. As a result, Washburn rounded the bases with an inside-the-park home run to widen Arkansas' lead to 6-2.
In the ninth, the Aztecs scored twice on a two-out two-RBI single by Lee, but fell two runs short just as they did in Friday's game against Miami.
San Diego State concludes play in the Hormel Foods Classic on Sunday (Mar. 4) when they take on the host Minnesota Golden Gophers at 3:00 p.m. (CST) in the Metrodome. The game can be heard live on the internet at www.goaztecs.com beginning at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time.
Arkansas 6, San Diego State 4SDSU 000 010 102 - 4 9 0ARK 100 020 03x - 6 6 1Dunwell, Hartshorn (8), Garber (8) and ManfredRoehl, Merryman (6) and Washburn, Graves (6)W - Roehl (1-0)L - Dunwell (1-2)Sv - Merryman (1)HR - ARK: Washburn (1)Att. - 427