May 23, 2002
Provo, Utah - Ryan Wilson's RBI triple in the seventh broke a 5-5 deadlock and helped propel San Diego State to a 9-6 win over Air Force in the second round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament in Provo, Utah. Wilson's three-bagger drove in Anthony Gwynn, who had singled with one out.
With the win, the Aztecs improve to 42-21 while Air Force, which was eliminated from the tourney with the loss, finishes its 2002 season at 27-28.
Following Wilson's late-inning heroics, SDSU added three more in the eighth on RB I doubles by Carlo Cota and Gwynn along with a sacrifice fly by Rielly Embrey. Cota collected three hits on the day with a double and two RBI while outfielder Landon Burt also had three hits with a run scored.
San Diego State took a quick 1-0 lead on a solo home run by Jake McLintock in the second, but the Falcons knotted the score in the third on an RBI single by Derck Kasel.
The Aztecs came right back with two in the bottom of the inning and two more in the fourth to assume a 5-1 advantage. However, Air Force would not go quietly, scoring three times in the sixth off SDSU starter Chris Dunwell, then tying the game with a single marker in the top of the seventh.
Joe Carque, SDSU's fifth pitcher of the afternoon, picked up his team-leading ninth win of the year, going 1.2 innings, allowing one run and striking out two. Aztec hurlers struck out a total of 13 Air Force batters with Royce Ring fanning Falcon pinch hitter Ryan Fitzgerald to end the game. Ring, who came on with two on and one out in the final inning, picked up his 17th save of the season.
San Diego State's final four runs of the game came off Air Force reliever Erik Fisher, who had held SDSU in check from the fourth inning on in relief of starter Johnny Koegel. The loss dropped Fisher's season mark of 3-5.
The Aztecs will next face the winner of the UNLV-Brigham Young game at 11:00 a.m. (MDT) Friday morning. A win would send SDSU to the title game on Saturday while a loss would force it to come back and play an elimination contest at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening.
San Diego State 9, Air Force 6AFA 001 003 101 - 6 14 3SDS 012 200 13x - 9 14 0Koegel, Fisher (4), Pratt (8) and PetroDunwell, Jenson (6), Hartshorn (7), Harang (7), Carque (7). Ring (9) and ManfredW - Carque (9-3)L - Fisher (3-5)Sv - Ring (17)HR - SDS: McLintock (2nd-none on)Att. - 175Time - 3:06