April 19, 2005
SAN DIEGO - In a game that saw six lead changes, San Diego State had the final say as it scored five times in the fifth inning en route to a 9-6 victory over UCLA Tuesday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The victory improved SDSU to 11-24 on the year while the Bruins fell to 8-25.
Aztec starter Ben Coon went five innings to record the victory and even his record at 2-2, but not before seeing his team fall behind three times.
After UCLA opened with a run in its first at bat, the Aztecs responded with two in the bottom of the first as they started the inning with four straight hits. A double by Quintin Berry was followed by singles from James Guerrero, Brock Ungricht and Lance Zawadzki.
That lead was short-lived, however, as the visitors came back with two in the next frame to assume a 3-2 advantage. Not to be outdone, the Aztecs got a two-run homer from outfielder Curt Mendoza, his third of the year, to go back on top 4-3 in the fourth.
Once again UCLA went ahead in the next inning with a pair of runs on a triple by Tommy Lansdon, single by Chris Jensen, and double by Brett McMillan to make it a 5-4 contest.
San Diego State's game-winning rally came in the bottom of the fifth as it scored five times on four hits, two walks, a hit batter and three Bruin errors. The Aztecs got RBI singles from Zawadzki and Jake McLintock along with a two-out two-run double from Jordan Swaydan to take a 9-5 lead. The first three of the runs in the inning came off UCLA reliever Scott Botterman, who was saddled with the loss and saw his record drop to 1-3.
UCLA picked up a consolation run in the seventh on a pair of Aztec errors and an RBI single by Jarrad Page. But SDSU hurlers Bruce Billings and Alex Hinshaw tossed the eighth and ninth innings respectively, with the latter recording his first save of the year.
San Diego State will now prepare to resume Mountain West Conference action as it hosts Air Force in a four game series beginning with a pair of games on Friday starting at 4:00 p.m. The first contest of that twin bill will be the conclusion of the suspended game that was halted by snow when SDSU visited Colorado Springs last month. It will be resumed in the bottom of the second inning with SDDSU leading 2-0.
San Diego State 9, UCLA 6UCLA 120 020 100 - 6 13 3SDSU 200 250 00x - 9 12 2Oseguera, Botterman (5), Brophy (5), Lafferty (6), Simon (8) and DenoveCoon, Miller (6), Bruckart (7), Billings (8), Hinshaw (9) and SwaydanW - Coon (2-2)L - Botterman (1-3)Sv - Hinshaw (1)HR - SDS: Mendoza (3)Time - 3:22Att. - 422