May 21, 2003
Albuquerque, N.M. - San Diego State overcome a late one-run deficit and got some clutch pitching from a pair of hurlers as it defeated Utah, 7-4, in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque Wednesday afternoon. The victory moved the Aztecs (27-30) into a second-round contest on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (MDT) against Brigham Young, which defeated New Mexico, 7-6 late Wednesday night.
In Wednesday's mid-afternoon contest, SDSU took a quick 2-0 lead in the opening frame on a RBI double by Anthony Gwynn and a run-scoring single by Rielly Embrey. However, the Utes came back to tie the contest in the next inning with a pair of runs on RBIs by third baseman Cort Wilson and catcher Wick Udy.
Utah (23-31) took a 3-2 lead in the fifth, this time on a single by Ryan Khoury and RBI double by Matt Ciaramella. Meanwhile, Ute starter Clay Westmoreland kept the Aztecs in check although he allowed 10 hits through the first six innings.
In the top of the sixth, the Utes loaded the bases with no outs against Aztec starting hurler Mike Moat, but they could not cash in as Moat struck out the next two batters and got the third out on a pop-up to second base.
Moat gave way to Ronnie Lindsey to start the seventh inning, but the freshman was soon in a jam with Utah runners at first and third with one out. Like Moat, Lindsey was able to escape unscathed with a strikeout and ground out to third to end the inning.
The Aztecs finally got to Westmoreland in the bottom of the seventh when Landon Burt led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by James Guerrero. Gwynn then delivered a double to right center to score Burt and tie the game at 3-3.
With Ben Buck on in relief for Utah, Embrey poked a single through the right side to bring Gwynn home with the go-ahead run. The Aztecs added three insurance runs in the eighth on an RBI double by Burt, run scoring single by Gwynn, and RBI ground rule double by Garrett Cook.
Utah scored a consolation run in the top of the ninth, with SDSU reliever Drew Jenson called upon to make the save (his fifth), allowing Lindsey (3-3) to picked up his third win of the year. Westmoreland (5-7) suffered the loss for the Utes.
Both Burt (three runs scored) and Gwynn (three RBI) finished the day with four hits apiece while Embrey contributed three singles. Eight of SDSU's starters reached safely at least once in the 17-hit attack.
Thursday night's second-round tourney contest for the Aztecs can be heard live on the Internet at www.goaztecs.com with Alan Horton's pregame show starting 10 minutes before game time. That game will also be televised live on College Sports Television (CSTV), which is available via DirecTV on channel 610.
San Diego State 7, Utah 4Utah 020 000 001 - 4 11 1SDSU 200 000 23x - 7 17 6Westmoreland, Buck (7) and Udy, Schlieman (8)Moat, Lindsey (7), Jenson (9) and AllenW - Lindsey (3-3)L - Westmoreland (5-7)Sv - Jenson (5)HR - NoneTime - 3:10