April 23, 2005
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State scored in each of the first five innings, batting around in two of those frames, as it defeated Air Force, 20-9, Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. All nine Aztecs starters hit safely, with eight of them recording multiple-hit games as SDSU pounded out a total of 20 hits in the seven-inning affair.
The win improved San Diego State (14-24 overall) to 8-7 in Mountain West Conference play as they moved up to third in the league standings by percentage points over New Mexico. The Falcons, meanwhile, saw their record fall to 5-31 and 0-15 in the MWC.
The Aztecs opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the first, thanks to a two-out two RBI single by senior outfielder Jake McLintock. They upped their lead to 5-0 in the next frame on RBIs by Quintin Berry, James Guerrero and Brock Ungricht. Those runs came off Air Force starter Paul Pratt, who fell to 2-9 on the season.
SDSU starting pitcher Ben Coon sailed through his first two innings on the mound, retiring six straight batters. However, he ran into trouble in the third as the visitors scored four runs on four hits to make it a 5-4 contest. The big blow in the inning was a two-out triple by Falcon right fielder Matt Ghigna that plated two runs.
The Air Force rally was a wakeup call to the Aztecs as they sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the third, scoring six times on four hits and three walks. Two innings later, SDSU scored eight times, sending 12 players up to bat. Seven consecutive singles was followed by a base on ball and a triple as the Aztecs built a 20-5 lead.
The Falcons got a run back in the sixth with a solo home run by Price Paramore, his tenth of the year. They then scored three more times in the seventh against right-hander Joel Matthews (1-0), who had come on in the fourth to relieve Ben Coon.
Among the hitting stars for San Diego State were Guerrero (3-for-3, 3 runs, 3 RBI), McLintock (2-for-3, 2 runs, 3 RBI), Berry (2-for-3, double, 4 runs, 2 RBI) and Garrick Evans (3-for-5, 3 runs, 2 RBI). With hits two hits, Berry increased his current hitting streak to 26 games, two shy of the Aztec record.
SDSU and Air Force will conclude their weekend series on Sunday (April 24) with a single seven-inning contest beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
San Diego State 20, Air Force 9AFA 004 101 3 - 9 11 0SDS 236 180 x - 20 20 0Pratt, Fugler (3), Yamamoto (5) and Polston, Adams (6)Coon, Matthews (4) and Swaydan, Anderson (6)W - Matthews (1-0)L - Pratt (2-9)Sv - NoneHR - AFA: Paramore (10)Time - 2:24Att. - 361