March 11, 2004
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SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State Aztecs christened the new PETCO Park with a brisk 4-0 win over the Houston Cougars before an NCAA-record crowd of 40,106 Thursday night in the first game of the Aztec Invitational baseball tournament.
The game was seen nationally on College Sports Television and televised locally by Channel 4 San Diego.
The Aztecs cruised to the victory behind an all-star performance by pitcher Scott Shoemaker. The senior hurled a three-hit complete-game shutout and struck out a career-high 14 in the process. The game took just 2:30 to play.
San Diego State got all of the offense it would need in the first inning when shortstop James Guerrero drove in Landon Burt with a sacrifice fly. Later in the inning, Lance Zawadski would score on a Rielly Embrey groundout for a fast 2-0 Aztec lead.
Embrey, a senior first baseman from Poway, would complete the scoring in the fifth inning with PETCO Park's first home run, a two-run shot down the right-field line. Embry had three of SDSU's seven hits while Guerrero picked up two.
The victory was the third in four games for San Diego State and improved the Aztecs to 10-15 on the season. SDSU will return to action Saturday night against Long Beach State. The Aztecs will host Nebraska Sunday night in the finale of the Aztec Invitational.
Houston, a super regional participant last season, dropped to 5-11 with the loss.
San Diego State 4, Houston 0HOU 000 000 000 - 0 3 1SDS 200 020 00x - 4 7 1Cooley, Farrington (7) and LoganShoemaker and SwaydanW - Shoemaker (2-5)L - Cooley (1-1)HR - Embrey (2)Attendance - 40,106Time - 2:30