May 22, 2002
Provo, Utah - San Diego State scored five times in the fourth inning to break a 1-1 tie and went on to defeat New Mexico, 8-2, in the opening game of the 2002 Mountain West Conference Tournament. The win improved the Aztecs to 41-21 on the year while the Lobos fell to 22-34.
SDSU got an excellent pitching performance from starter Rory Shortell (8-6), who allowed two runs on six hits over eight innings to pick up the victory. The loss went to UNM's James Vermilyea (7-9), who had thrown a complete-game win over the Aztecs in Albuquerque two weeks ago.
New Mexico jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a two-out RBI single by second baseman Troy Cairns. SDSU knotted the score one inning later when Anthony Gwynn, who had single with one out, scored from second after a walk to Ryan Wilson and run-scoring single by Landon Burt.
The Aztecs' five-run rally in the fourth began with four straight hits and a walk. Consecutive singles by Jake McLintock, Anthony Gwynn and Wilson loaded the bases for Burt, who unloaded a two-run double down the right field line. A walk to Brian Manfred re-loaded the bases, and a run scored on Taber Lee's ground out to second. The final two runs came on a wild pitched and a throwing error by Lobo catcher Scott Tajima.
SDSU added a run the fifth when McLintock was hit by a pitch, went to third on a Ryan Wilson single, and scored on a grounder to first by Burt. The Aztecs upped their lead to 8-1 in the seventh on a McLintock double and run-scoring single by Wilson.
New Mexico picked up a consolation run in the eighth, but it was too little too late as SDSU's Royce Ring came on in the ninth to close out the Aztec win.
Ryan Wilson recorded three hits on the day with a walk, RBI and run scored. Landon Burt, who had four RBI on the day, was one of three Aztecs to finish with two hits. Jake McLintock and Anthony Gwynn also had a pair of hits for San Diego State.
The Aztecs will now take on the loser of Wednesday night's Air Force Brigham Young contest. That game is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. (MDT) start Thursday afternoon (May 23). That contest can be heard live on the Internet beginning 10 minutes prior to start time (1:50 p.m. Pacific time) with Aztec Pregame Show.
San Diego State 8, New Mexico 2UNM 100 000 010 - 2 7 2SDS 010 510 10x - 8 10 1Vermilyea, Mason (9) and TajimaShortell, Ring (9) and ManfredW - Shortell (8-6)L - Vermilyea (7-9)Sv - NoneHR - NoneAtt. - 270Time - 2:21