April 25, 2003
Colorado Springs - San Diego State got two home runs apiece from Rielly Embrey and Chad Corona, plus a complete-game pitching performance from Mike Mat en route to an 11-7 victory over Air Force Friday afternoon at Falcon Field. The win was the fourth straight for SDSU and improved its record to 20-23 overall and 12-7 in the Mountain West Conference. The Falcons fell to 12-27 overall as they remain winless in league play at 0-18.
After the teams scored two runs apiece in the first inning, San Diego State appeared to grab the momentum when Embrey hit his first homer of the afternoon, a three-run shot in the third, to give the Aztecs a 5-2 lead. However, Air Force came back with two in the bottom of the inning to keep it close.
SDSU made it 6-4 in the top of the sixth on Corona's first home run, a solo shot to left. But in the bottom of the inning, the Falcons took their first lead of the day on a two-out bases-loaded triple by Nelson Prouty to make it a 7-6 ball game.
Air Force's lead evaporated, however, when San Diego State answered with four runs in their next at bat. A leadoff double by James Guerrero and an RBI single by Garrett Cook scored the first run of the inning. That was followed by Embrey's second homer of the day to make it 9-7 in favor of the visitors.
The Aztecs added one more in the same inning when Chad Corona singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and came home on Ryan Wilson's two-out single up the middle. Corona then added another solo homer in the ninth to round out the scoring.
Moat's complete-game effort was his second of the season and evened his record at 4-4. Air Force freshman Paul Vignola took the loss to fall to 5-5.
Corona and Guerrero had four hits for SDSU while Embrey had a season team-high five runs batted in. In addition, Anthony Gwynn and Garret Cook had two singles and a double each.
The Aztecs and Falcons continue their three-game series on Saturday (April 26) at 1:00 p.m. (MDT) at Falcon Field in Colorado Springs. That game can be heard live on the Internet with the pregame show starting 10 minutes before game time.
San Diego State 11, Air Force 7SDS 203 001 401 - 11 18 1AFA 202 003 000 - 7 10 1Moat and AllenVignola, Mears (7) and PetroW - Moat (4-4)L - Vignola (5-5)Sv - NoneHR - AFA: Phifer (1st-one on) SDS: Embrey (3rd-two on) SDS: Corona (6th-none on) SDS: Embrey (7th-one on) SDS: Corona (9th-none on)Att. - 76Time - 2:25