Feb. 16, 2002
San Diego - Three Aztec pitchers combined to scatter five hits and the offense came through with some clutch hits as SDSU defeated Western Kentucky, 4-2, Saturday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the victory, San Diego State improved to 7-4 on the season. The Hilltoppers, who dropped a 6-2 decision to Oregon State earlier in the day, evened their record at 3-3.
Starter Joe Carque (1-0) picked up his first win as an Aztec, going seven innings and allowing two runs on three hits. After senior Erik Fielder pitched a scoreless eighth inning, Royce Ring came on in the ninth to record his second save of the year. The junior preseason All-American gave up one hit and struck out two in his one inning of work.
For the second night in a row, Western Kentucky took a 1-0 lead in their opening at bat. Outfielder David Lower opened the game with a double and scored on a single by first baseman Nick Turner.
San Diego State knotted the score in the third when Carlo Cota drew a one-out walk, advanced to second on a single by Chad Corona, and scored on a two-out base hit by Jon Stephens.
The Aztecs took the lead one inning later, scoring a pair of runs off Western Kentucky starter Andy Baldwin (0-1). With two outs, Taber Lee hit a double to center field and came home on Anthony Gwynn's single to left. After Gwynn stole second, Cota tripled down the right field line to bring him home.
SDSU added one more run in the fifth when Garrett Cook's sacrifice fly scored Josh Hill from third base. Western Kentucky pulled run back in the sixth as Jeff Pacholke scored from third on a double play ball by center fielder Ryan Arnett.
The Aztecs will finish their weekend with a single game against Oregon State at noon on Sunday (Feb. 17) at 1:00 p.m. That game can be heard live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com.
San Diego State 4, Western Kentucky 2WKU 100 001 000 - 2 5 2SDS 001 120 00x - 4 8 2Baldwin, Faircloth (5) and Yaeger, Polson (7)Carque, Fiedler (8), Ring (9) and AllenW - Carque (1-0)L - Baldwin (0-1)Sv - Ring (2)HR - NoneAtt. - 707Time - 2:33