April 24, 2005
SAN DIEGO - Lance Zawadzki hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to send Sunday's game against Air Force into extra innings, then hit a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth to give the Aztecs a 9-8 win over the Falcons at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The loss was a heartbreaker for the Academy, which had led from the fourth inning only to see their MWC losing streak continue.
As a result of Air Force forfeiting two contests of the six-game weekend series, SDSU's record now stands at 17-24 overall and 11-7 in the Mountain West Conference. Air Force, meanwhile, drops to 5-34 and 0-18 in the MWC.
Despite the one-sided scores of the first three games of the weekend, the Falcons showed they came to play on Sunday by jumping on SDSU starter Brett Douglas for a pair of runs in the top of the first thanks to a home run by Dustin Smith and an RBI single by Geno Salazar.
SDSU cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the inning as James Guerrero singled home Quintin Berry, who had led off with a single to right to extend his hitting streak to 27 games. The Aztecs took the lead in the fourth, scoring three times on Brock Ungricht's two-run triple and an RBI grounder by Zawadzki.
Trailing 4-2, Air Force showed it wasn't about to give up as it struck for five runs in the top of the fourth of the scheduled seven-inning contest. A leadoff homer by Nathan DeRohan and a two-RBI double by Troy Jeffers chased Douglas and his successor on the mound, Andres Esquibel, from the game.
Jordan Swaydan's solo homer, his second of the year, in the bottom of the inning made it a 7-5 contest. The team's each tallied one more run over the next two innings to give Air Force an 8-6 lead entering the bottom of the seventh (and final) inning.
That set the stage for the first of Zawadzki's big hits. After Jake McLintock led off the bottom of the seventh with a base on balls, the Aztec third baseman lofted a 1-1 pitch over the right center field wall to knot the score at 8-8.
The game was now in the hands of relief pitchers for both teams. For SDSU, it was Bruce Billings, who had come on in relief of Will Miller in the sixth with two on and no outs. In his four innings of work, Billings (5-3) allowed no runs on a hit and a walk while striking out six Air Force batters.
Air Force reliever Andrew Goss (0-4), who came after the Aztecs tied the score in the seventh, gave up one hit in his two-plus innings before Zawadzki's game winning shot, again over the wall in right center.
Zawadzki ended the day with four runs batted in while McLintock had three hits including a double. First baseman Brock Ungricht also connected for a pair of hits (double, triple) and drove in two runs.
San Diego State will now take a short break from conference play as it travels to Cal State Northridge to take on the Matadors on Tuesday, April 26, at 3:00 p.m. in a game re-scheduled after a rainout earlier in the season.
San Diego State 9, Air Force 8 (9 inn.)AFA 200 510 000 - 8 12 1SDS 103 101 201 - 9 13 2Couch, Tetrault (6), DePierre (6), Goss (7) and PolstonDouglas, Esquibel (4), Miller (4), Billings (6) and SwaydanW - Billings (5-3)L - Goss (0-4)Sv - NoneHR - AFA: Smith (2), DeRohan (6) SDS: Swaydan (2), Zawadzki-2 (5)Time - 2:58Att. - 651