April 20, 2002
San Diego - San Diego State negated a spirited comeback by Brigham Young with the tying and winning runs in the sixth inning and went on defeat the Cougars, 7-6, Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
With the win, the Aztecs move to 33-13 on the year and 15-3 in the Mountain West Conference. In the process, they extended their lead over second-place Utah to 5.5 games. BYU dropped to 16-23-1 overall and 9-9 in league play, six games off the pace.
As was the case in the first two games of the series, the Cougars opened the scoring with a run in the first on an RBI single by Dave Jensen. However, SDSU responded with four in its half of the first. The big blow was a bases-loaded three-run double by Rielly Embrey, his second of the series. The Aztecs added a run in the second on an RBI double by Carlo Cota that scored Anthony Gwynn from third.
Brigham Young started its comeback with single runs in the third and fourth off SDSU starter Joe Carque. They then touched up reliever Erik Fiedler for three runs in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead. Ranger Wiens double scored Matt Carson from second base after he and Wiens had singled with one out. Three batters later, Han Yi's two-out double scored Itri and Wiens to give BYU the lead.
The Aztecs fought back in the sixth with a pair of runs to re-take the lead at 7-6. After Embrey led off with a single, Brian Manfred drew a walk off BYU starter Paul Jacinto (2-2). Relief pitcher Jeff Stone was greeted by a sac bunt by Anthony Gwynn followed by Taber Lee's RBI single to tie the contest. Carlo Cota then singled home Manfred with what would prove to be the winning run.
Junior Chris Hartshorn (1-0) picked up his first win of the season in relief of Carque. Closer Royce Ring came on to record the final out in the eighth when the Cougars threatened with two men on. He then retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out two, to record his nation-leading 14th save of the season.
Embrey finished the day with three hits while SDSU's Lee and Cota picked up two apiece. For the Cougars, designated hitter Cameron Coughlan had three hits.
Up next for San Diego State is a break from Mountain West Conference action as it travels to Los Angles on Tuesday (April 23) to take on USC at 5:00 p.m. That game can be heard live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com.
San Diego State 7, Brigham Young 6BYU 101 130 000 0 6 13 0SDS 410 002 00x - 7 11 0Jacinto, Stone (6), Fernley (6) and WilkesCarque, Fiedler (4), Harang (5), Hartshorn (6), Jenson (8), Moat (8), Ring (8) and ManfredW - Hartshorn (1-0)L - Jacinto (2-2)Sv - Ring (14)HR - NoneAtt. - 723Time - 3:38