Feb. 1, 2004
San Diego - San Diego State scored eight runs over the first four innings, and then had to hold on late to record an 11-7 win over Sacramento State Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs saw the Hornets crawl back to within two runs after seven innings, then called upon preseason All-American reliever Ryan Schroyer to close out the contest and end a two-game losing streak.
With the win, SDSU evened its 2004 ledger at 4-4 while the loss was the first of the year from Sac State, which fell to 2-1.
The contest marked the 2,000th victory in the history of San Diego State baseball since the sport was elevated to "major" (i.e. varsity) status in 1936. The school's all-time record in the 66 season's since now stands at 2000-1209-37 (.622).
Center fielder David Hall got things going for the Aztecs with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning. SDSU then added another single marker in the second when Clay Coulter's sacrifice fly scored freshman Brand Rauch, who had tripled to lead off the frame.
San Diego State padded its lead with a four-run outburst in the third inning on RBI singles by Sam Pepper and Brock Ungricht plus a two-run hit by Rauch. The next inning brought two more runs for the Aztecs on a leadoff triple by James Guerrero, run-scoring single by Ryan Wilson, and another RBI single later in the inning by Ungricht.
Aztec starting pitcher Chris Hartshorn cruised through the first four innings, allowing two hits and striking out four. However, he ran into trouble in the fifth as the visitors scored three times to cut the lead to 8-3. Hartshorn pitched into the sixth inning, but a trio of SDSU relievers allowed the Hornets' to score four more times in the sixth and seventh while the Aztecs could muster only a single run in their half of the sixth as the lead shrank to 9-7.
SDSU's marker in that seventh inning came on another RBI single by Brock Ungricht. The freshman from Mission Bay High followed up his three-hit performance of Saturday with four hits and three runs batted in on Sunday.
The Aztecs were able to double their lead in the eighth when senior left fielder Landon Burt hit a two-run homer to right to make the score 11-7.
Schroyer, meanwhile, had come on with two out in the top of the seventh to get SDSU out of a two-out bases-laded jam. He went the final 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five to record his second save of the season. Hartshorn was credited with the win to improve to 2-0. Hornet starter Marshall Hendon (0-1) took the loss.
Up next for San Diego State is a three-game series against UC Santa Barbara starting next Friday (Feb. 6) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
San Diego State 11, Sacramento State 7CSUS 000 032 200 - 7 11 0SDSU 114 201 02x - 11 17 0Hartshorn, Teasley (6), Esparza (7), Billings (7), Schroyer and Coulter, Swaydan (8)Hendon, Deme (4), Joyce (7) and MoralesW - Hartshorn (2-0)L - Hendon (0-1)Sv - Schroyer (2)HR - SDSU: Hall (1st-none on) CSUS: Arroyo (5th-one on)Att. - 410Time - 3:13