April 6, 2002
San Diego - San Diego State took advantage of three New Mexico errors to score five unearned runs en route to a 7-2 victory over the Lobos Saturday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztec win was the second straight over UNM and saw SDSU improve to 25-12 (7-3 MWC) on the year while the Lobos fell to 15-19 (5-6 MWC).
For the second night in a row, San Diego state jumped out to an early lead with a pair of runs in the first. With the bases loaded and two outs, designated hitter Rielly Embrey hit a ground ball that Lobo first baseman Chris Alexander booted and allowed to roll slowly into right field. Carlo Cota and Jake McLintock, who had both walked earlier in the inning, scored to put the Aztecs up 2-0.
Two innings later, a two-out double by Embrey brought home Taber Lee who had reached on a single.
Aztec starting pitcher Rory Shortell had things under control until the sixth inning when New Mexico scored a pair of runs on doubles by Scott Tajima and Matt Young, plus an RBI single by Dusty Young. Then with runners on first and third and one out, a power surge blew out a bank of lights on the first base side of the stadium.
After a 13-minute delay, play resumed. Shortell then proceeded to retire Anthony Lovato on a pop fly to third before walking Todd Stroud to load the bases. He then got out of the jam by inducing a fly ball to left by Joe Salas to leave the Lobos trailing 3-2.
SDSU re-took control of the in the seventh, scoring three times. A bases-loaded wild pitch by Lobo starter Matthew Bullen allowed Brian Manfred to score from third. The Aztecs also got sacrifice flies from McLintock and Embrey to build a 6-3 lead. They added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI single by Anthony Gwynn.
Gwynn led the Aztecs with three hits on the night while teammate Carlo Cota had a pair of hits including a double with an RBI and run scored. Six different players had a hit apiece for the Lobos.
Shortell went seven innings before giving way to reliever Chris Hartshorn in the eighth. With the win, Shortell improved his record to 6-2. New Mexico's Matthew Bullen, making his first start of the season, saw his record drop to 0-3.
The Lobos and Aztec conclude their three-game series on Sunday afternoon (April 7) at Tony Gwynn Stadium with game time set for 1:00 p.m. That game can be heard live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com with Alan Horton calling the action.
San Diego State 7, New Mexico 2UNM 000 002 000 - 2 6 3SDS 201 000 31x - 7 9 1Shortell, Hartshorn (8) and ManfredBullen, Gross (7) and TajimaW - Shortell (6-2)L - Bullen (0-3)Sv - NoneHR - NoneAtt. - 603Time - 3:03