April 23, 2006
LAS VEGAS - San Diego State took advantage of some shaky UNLV defense as it scored seven runs, six unearned, over the first three innings in a 16-8 win at Earl E. Wilson Stadium Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Aztecs captured the weekend series, two games to one, and have won three of four against the Rebels this season.
Bruce Billings had his fourth excellent outing in a row, shutting out UNLV (17-24, 4-9 MWC) on three hits over the first six innings before being touched for three runs in the bottom of the seventh. The junior right-hander went seven innings, giving up those three runs on six hits while striking out five and walking just one. With the win, Billings evened his record at 3-3 on the year.
SDSU (15-28, 8-5 MWC) opened the contest with three runs in the first, aided by an error on Rebel shortstop Mike Cruz. The big play in the inning came with the bases loaded, two out and Jordan Swaydan at the plate. Swaydan hit a high chopper between the mound and first that UNLV hurler Matt Luca initially went to field before heading to first to cover the bag. Swaydan, Luca and the ball all arrived at first at the same time, with Swaydan safe and the collision causing the ball to roll away. Both Brock Ungricht and Tim O'Brien scored on the play.
Luca finished out the inning, but was removed from the game in the second after feeling the effects of the collision. Despite giving up just one earned run, he was charged with the loss to fall to 1-4 on the year.
The Aztecs added a run in the second and three more in the third. The marker in the second came on an RBI triple by Lance Zawadzki, the first of his three hits on the day. In the third, a pair of errors by UNLV third baseman Willie Bowman helped the visitors extend their lead to 7-0.
An RBI single by Zawadzki in the fifth, a two-run triple by Paul Smyth, and a sacrifice fly by Ungricht plated four more runs. The score became 13-0 in the next frame on two runs courtesy of a Swaydan double, single by Joey Huskins, a wild pitch and single by Nick Romero.
Following their three runs off Billings in the seventh, the Aztecs regained their 13-run lead as Paul Smyth launched a three-run homer in the top of the next inning to make the score 16-3.
UNLV made the score respectable with five in the bottom of the frame off a pair of SDSU relievers. Those five runs came on a two-run homer by second baseman CJ Lang and a three-run shot by left fielder Blake Gailen. It was Gailen's second round-tripper of the game.
For the second day in a row, six Aztecs had multiple-hit games in the win. Zawadzki's three hits netted one RBI and he scored three times. Ungricht had a pair of runs batted in while Smyth had a pair of hits with five runs batted in including the three-run homer.
Up next for San Diego State is a trip to Long Beach State on Tuesday (April 25) to take on the 49ers at 6:30 p.m. at Blair Field.
San Diego State 16, UNLV 8SDSU 313 042 030 - 16 20 0UNLV 000 000 350 - 8 11 4Billings, Nolte (8), Coon (8) and Swaydan, Anderson (7)Luca, Wagner (2), Pupo (5), Scruggs (6), Brock (7), Navarro (9) and Walker, Zerega (8)W - Billings (3-3)L - Luca (1-4)Sv - NoneHR - SDSU: Smyth-6 (8th-two on) UNLV: Gailen-4 (7th-one on) UNLV: Lang-4 (8th-one on) UNLVL Gailen-5 (8th-two on)Att. - 442Time: 3:18