May 7, 2002
San Diego - Josh Hill's fielder's choice with the infield drawn in drove in Taber Lee from third in the eighth inning and gave San Diego State a 4-3 win over UC Irvine Tuesday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The victory was the Aztecs; third in four meetings with the Anteaters this season and snapped their three-game losing streak. In the process, they improved to 36-19 on the year while UCI fell to 29-21.
The Aztecs opened the scoring in the first inning when second baseman Carlo Cota connected for his second home run of the season, a solo shot off Irvine starter Michael Kohler. He was the first of two SDSU seniors to drive in runs on Senior Night and one of four Aztecs honored prior to their final game at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
San Diego State doubled its lead in the fifth when Anthony Gwynn hit a one-out triple to center field and scored on a fielder's choice by senior Brian Manfred.
Meanwhile, Aztec starting pitcher Rob Harrand cruised through the first five innings, facing just one batter over the minimum and allowing just two hits. However, he ran into trouble in the sixth when UCI scored three times to take a 3-2 lead.
With one out, B.J. Eucce and Jon Horwitz hit back-to-back singles. The ensuing batter, Matt Anderson, was hit by a Harrand curve ball to load the bases. After a strikeout, right fielder Chris Klemm drew a walk from the Aztec starter to bring in the first Anteater run of the evening.
The Aztecs then brought on reliever Drew Jenson, but a wild pitch and passed ball scored two more runs to give Irvine the lead.
SDSU drew even in the bottom of the seventh when Gwynn's two-out single to right scored Jake McLintock, who had walked to lead off the inning.
The game-winning rally in the eighth started with a leadoff double by shortstop Taber Lee off Anteater reliever Sean Tracey. Lee advanced to third on a wild pitch forcing UCI to bring the infield in. After Carlo Cota grounded out to third, Hill hit a grounder between first and second, and UCI second baseman Brett Dalton's only play was to first base as Lee came home.
SDSU's Royce Ring, who had not pitched since April 28, went the final two innings to pick up the win and improve to 4-1 on the season. Tracey took the loss to fall to 7-6.
Taber Lee led the SDSU offense with a pair of singles, a double and run scored while teammate Anthony Gwynn had two hits including a triple and run batted in.
Up next for the Aztecs is a three-game Mountain West Conference road trip to Albuquerque to face the New Mexico Lobos. SDSU's magic number to clinch the league's regular-season title is three.
The first game of the UNM series is scheduled for Friday, May 10, at 3:00 p.m. (MDT) at Lobo Field. That game can be heard live on the Internet beginning 10 minutes prior to game time (1:50 p.m. Pacific Time) with Alan Horton calling the action.
San Diego State 4, UC Irvine 3UCI 000 003 000 - 3 4 0SDS 100 010 11x - 4 6 0Koehler, Tracey (6), French (8) and MillerHarrand, Jenson, (6), Hartshorn (6), Ring (8) and ManfredW - Ring (4-1)L - Tracey (7-6)Sv - NoneHR - SDS: Cota (1st-none on)Att. - 718Time - 2:30