April 13, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State scored four runs on no hits in the fifth inning and totaled just four hits on the night as it defeated Utah, 7-6, in the first contest of a three-game Mountain West Conference series against the Utes at Tony Gwynn Stadium Thursday evening.
It was the sixth win in the last eight outings for the Aztecs, who improved to 12-26 overall and 5-3 in league play as they moved past Utah into second place in the standings. The Utes, who had won six of seven coming into the game, fell to 17-14 (2-2 MWC).
San Diego State struck first in the contest, scoring twice in the first on a two-out two-RBI single by third baseman Tim O'Brien. Despite allowing the two runs, Ute starter Josh Cooper struck out the side in that inning and eight of the first nine outs he recorded were via the strikeout. He finished the night with 10 K's, but some wildness and a pair of errors proved his undoing later in the game.
SDSU's Justin Masterson., meanwhile, held Utah hitless over the first four frames before it struck for a pair of runs in the fifth to tie the contest at 2-2. After Erich Kemp and Joe Mozeleski opened the innings with singles, left fielder Corey Shimada hit a two-out double to center to knot the score.
Cooper's troubles came in the bottom of the inning, when he walked four of the first five Aztec hitters, allowing the home side to regain the lead. With the bases loaded, SDSU left fielder Paul Smyth then hit a ground ball to shortstop Ryan Khoury, whose throw to second was wide of the bag. Ute second baseman Tyler Kmetko's relay to first skipped past Jay Brossman, and two runs scored on the play. Brock Ungricht's sacrifice fly made it a 6-2 game.
Utah rebounded with two runs in the sixth and added a run in the seventh to close the gap to 6-5. Masterson left the contest with two out in the seventh, finishing with 10 strikeouts on the night, as Adam Simon was called upon to protect the lead.
The Aztecs added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth on Tim O'Brien's eighth homer of the year to make it 7-5. That run proved important as the visitors rallied for a run in the ninth before Simon closed out the contest by striking out Kmetko to end the game.
With the win, Masterson improved his record to 4-5 while it was Simon's fourth save of the season. Utah's Cooper took the loss to fall to 3-4.
Utah and San Diego State will continue their three-game set on Friday (April 14) when they face off at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
San Diego State 7, Utah 6Utah 000 022 101 - 6 10 2SDSU 200 040 010 - 7 4 2Cooper, McCord (6) and FrankMasterson, Simon (7) and SwaydanW - Masterson (4-5)L - Cooper (3-4)Sv - NoneHR - Utah: Brossman-6 (6th-none on) SDSU: O'Brien-8 (8th-none on)Att. - 481Time - 3:01