Feb. 24, 2004
SAN DIEGO - Senior first baseman Rielly Embrey broke out of a hitting slump with three hits and four runs batted in to lead San Diego State to an 8-3 win over Cal State Northridge at Tony Gwynn Stadium Tuesday evening. The win ended a two-game skid for the Aztecs, who improved to 7-10 on the season. The loss was the seventh in the last eight outings for the Matadors as they fell to 5-9 on the year.
SDSU stared with right-hander Chris Hartshorn on the mound after the senior had missed his regular turn in the starting rotation due to Sunday's rainout at USC. After giving up a run on three hits in the first, he settled down to retire the next nine hitters before leaving the game after the final out in the fourth. Because he was designated to pitch only four innings, he picked up the victory to up his record to 4-1.
Senior lefty Drew Jenson threw the middle three innings, allowing a pair of runs on three hit while striking out five CSUN batters. Ryan Schroyer threw a perfect eighth and ninth inning to secure the victory.
After the visitors pushed a cross a run in their first at bat, San Diego State put two on the board in the bottom of the third and never relinquished the lead after that. With one out and the bases loaded, Curt Mendoza hit a grounder to shortstop that was booted by Matador shortstop Jesse Perez, allowing a run to score. Clay Coulter then lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score the second run of the inning.
The Aztecs tacked on two more runs in each of the next two frames thanks to Embrey's bat. In the fourth, his double to left center scored Landon Burt and James Guerrero, who had singled and walked ahead of him respectively. In the fifth, Embrey came through again with a two-out two-RBI single that upped SDSU's lead to 6-1.
CSU Northridge closed the scored to 6-3 with a pair of runs in the sixth, but the home team answered back with single markers in the seventh and eighth to put the game away. Guerrero singled to bring home Burt in the seventh, then Brock Ungricht led off the eighth with a double and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
In addition to Embrey's three hits on the night, both Ungricht and second baseman Lance Zawadzki had two hits apiece as the Aztecs put up their most runs in a game since defeating UC Santa Barbara, 8-5, on Feb. 7.
Up next for SDSU is a trip to Austin where they will take on the third-ranked Texas Longhorns in a three-game series beginning Friday (Feb. 27) at UT's Disch-Falk Field. That first-ever meeting between the teams gets underway at 2:30 p.m. (CST) and can be heard live on the Internet with the College Sports Pass at www.goaztecs.com.
San Diego State 8, Cal State Northridge 3CSN 100 002 000 - 3 6 3SS 002 220 11x - 8 9 0Hochgesang, Jean (4), Rocchio (5), Polanco (7) and QuintanaHartshorn, Jenson (5), Schroyer (8) and UngrichtW - Hartshorn (4-1)L - Hochgesang (0-2)Sv - NoneHR - NoneAtt. - 385Time: 2:59