Feb. 7, 2002
Tucson, Arizona - Arizona's Moises Duran hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the ninth to give Arizona a 1-0 win over San Diego State in the opening game of their three-game series at Frank Sancet Field in Tucson. With the win, the Wildcats improved to 8-1 on the season. The Aztecs, who saw their five-game win streak snapped, fell to 5-2.
The contest was a pitching duel throughout, with SDSU's Chris Dunwell and Arizona's Mike Rierson both going the distance.
The Wildcat right-hander scattered five hits, struck out nine and walked none en route to picking up his third win of the year and lowering his earned run average to 0.78. SDSU's Dunwell gave up five hits and struck out seven, but saw his record fall to 0-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.63.
The Aztecs had one runner reach as far as third base, as Anthony Gwynn led off the seventh with a single, advanced to second on a fielder's choice, and stole third with two outs. However, he was stranded there as the Aztecs were unable to come up with a clutch hit. SDSU had runners at second base on two other occasions, but could not to cash in either opportunity.
Prior to Duran's last-inning heroics, the closest the Wildcats came to scoring came in the fourth inning when catcher Richard Mercado led off with a triple to center field. However, Dunwell then struck out the next two batters and got a fly ball to center to escape the inning unscathed.
Left fielder Josh Allen had a pair of singles to lead the San Diego State offense. SDSU also got infield singles from Brian Manfred and Taber Lee in the second along with Gwynn's line drive to center in the seventh.
The Aztecs and Wildcats continue their three-game set on Friday at 3:00 p.m. (MST) in Tucson. There will be no Internet broadcast of that contest due to a scheduling conflict. Saturday's series finale may be heard live on www.goaztecs.com beginning at noon in San Diego.
Arizona 1, San Diego State 0SDS 000 000 000 - 0 5 0UA 000 000 001 - 1 5 0Dunwell and ManfredRierson and MercadoW - Rierson (3-0)L - Dunwell (0-1)Sv - NoneHR - UA: Duran (9th-none on)Att. - 511Time - 2:06