Jan. 19, 2002
Melbourne, Australia - San Diego State broke open a one-run game by scoring five times in the third inning en route to an 8-3 win over the Victoria Aces in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday. Victoria had defeated the Aztecs, 7-2, in game one of the twin bill.
The contest, played at Altona Stadium near Melbourne, was the third of four scheduled contests between the two teams. SDSU has captured two of the first three contests and has run its record to 7-2 on its preseason tour of Australia.
San Diego State opened the game with a three-run first inning behind RBI singles from Riley Barrett and Garrett Cook plus a Victoria fielding error. Cook led the Aztec offense on the night with three hits including a double, RBI and run scored.
The Aztecs three-run lead was short-lived, however, as Victoria came back with two runs (one earned) off starter Rob Harrand in the bottom of the inning.
The turning point of the game came in the bottom of the second when the Aces loaded the bases with no out and appeared ready to take the lead. Ben Utting then lifted a fly ball to medium-deep right field that SDSU's Cody Haven caught and fired to the plate. The runner on third, Steven Jenkins, decided to stay at third, but Aztec catcher Ryan Wilson alertly fired the ball to second base where Scott Dawes had strayed away from the bag. Jenkins then broke for home, and Aztec second baseman Garrett Changnon fired a strike to Wilson, who applied the tag to complete the unusual double play. Harrand struck out Ace second baseman Brett Tamburrino to escape the inning unscathed.
San Diego State then strung together seven consecutive singles to open the third inning and up its lead to 8-2. The Aztecs got RBIs in the inning from Jacob Minter, Cody Haven, Garrett Changnon, Landon Burt and David Hall.
Victoria picked up a consolation run in the sixth when Adam Burton's two-out single drove in Tamburrino from third.
Harrand picked up his second win of the exhibition tour, going four innings of the scheduled seven-inning nightcap, scattering five hits and giving up the one earned run. Junior Eric Human finished the final three innings to pick up his first save. Victoria's Rikki Johnston took the loss, giving up all eight runs along with 11 hits.
The Aztecs finish up their 10-game Australian slate of games with a contest against Victoria on Sunday morning, Jan. 20, at 10:30 a.m. at Altona Stadium. That game can be heard live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon (Jan. 19) Pacific time.
San Diego State 8, Victoria 3SDS 305 000 0 - 8 12 1VIC 200 001 0 - 3 7 1Harrand, Human (5) and Perdue, Wilson (6)Johnston, Asp (3) and DawesW - HarrandL - JohnstonSv - HumanHR - none