Feb. 15, 2003
San Diego - San Diego State fell behind early and unlike Friday night, was unable to come back as Santa Clara defeated the Aztecs, 9-6, Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium before a crowd of 1,208. The loss pushed the Aztecs below the .500 mark at 4-5 while Santa Clara improved to 6-5 on the season.
SDSU starter Ron Lindsey (1-2) opened the game with a strikeout on three pitches, but ran into control trouble immediately thereafter. Over his 1.2 inning stint, he allowed three runs on one hit, three walks and a pair of hit batters.
The Aztecs fell behind 5-0 in the fourth after SC second baseman A.J. LaBarbera hit a two-run homer off reliever Daryl Harang. LaBarbera, who had a two-RBI single in the second, finished the afternoon with a pair of hits and four runs batted in.
The Aztec offense came alive in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four times to shorten the Broncos' lead to one at 5-4. A two-RBI triple from Rielly Embrey followed by a double off the bat of Garrett Cook and an RBI single by Steve Boggs accounted for the scoring.
After Santa Clara answered back with a pair of runs in the fifth, SDSU came back with two of their own in the bottom of the inning. Peter Stonard's single brought home Anthony Gwynn (who walked to lead off the inning) and Rielly Embry's ground out to short scored James Guerrero (who had followed Gwynn with a base hit) to cut the visitors' lead to 7-6.
From that point on, Bronco reliever Joe Diefenderfer (1-2) shut the door on the Aztecs and recorded his first win of the season as his team added single runs in the eighth and ninth. Patrick Overholt retired the side in the order in the ninth to record his second save of the season.
Junior Jake McLintock and freshman Steve Boggs had a pair of hits apiece for San Diego State, the latter making his first plate appearances of the year.
The Aztecs and Broncos conclude their three-game series on Sunday (Feb. 16) at 1:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The contests will be broadcast live on the internet at www.goaztecs.com with the pregame show commencing at 12:50 p.m. (PST).
Santa Clara 9, San Diego State 6SCU 120 220 011 - 9 10 0SDS 000 420 000 - 6 9 4Slorp, Rea (4), Diefenderfer (5), Overholt (9) and Mandley, McColgan (9)Lindsey, Harang (2), Hartshorn (7), Leuthard (9) and AllenW - Diefenderfer (1-2)L - Lindsey (1-2)Sv - Overholt (2)HR - SCU: LaBarbera (5th-one on)Att. - 1,208Time - 3:33