April 26, 2006
LONG BEACH - Long Beach State put up a season-high in runs and shut down the San Diego State offense in a 16-4 win over the Aztecs Tuesday evening at Blair Field. The 49ers effectively put the game away with a 10-run outburst in the third inning that turned a close game into a one-sided affair.
Long Beach State (20-18) came out in the bottom of the first inning and loaded the bases with no outs on a pair of walks and a single off SDSU starter Will Miller. A sacrifice fly by right fielder Sean Boatright brought home the first run of the game and put runners on second and third, but Miller struck out Jose Hernandez and induced a fly ball to center from Brandon Godfrey to escape further damage.
San Diego State (15-29) knotted the score in the top of the third as Quintin Berry led off with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball. After a sacrifice bunt by Lance Zawadzki and walk to Paul Smyth, Berry scored on an RBI ground out to second by Brock Ungricht.
The contest did not stay tied long as the 49ers tallied 10 times in the bottom of the inning to take an 11-1 lead. Miller was touched up for a triple, two singles and a double to open the frame before giving way to reliever Mike Koons. Miller was charged with four runs in the inning and was took the loss to fall to 1-3 on the year.
Koons fared little better as he conceded three singles, walk and hit batter while recording only one out before being lifted in favor of redshirt freshman Justin Lynch with the bases loaded. LBSU designated hitter Anthony Pinocchio greeted Lynch's by hitting his first pitch for a bases-clearing triple, then came home on Evan Longoria's sacrifice fly for the 10th run in the inning.
LBSU reliever Shane Peterson, who had given up the tying run in the top of the third, was the beneficiary of his team's 10-run outburst as he was credited with the win to even his record at 1-1.
San Diego State used a total of seven pitchers on the evening, and the 49ers scored off each of the first five who took the mound. Only freshman Mark Triolo and senior Ben Coons escaped unscathed. Triolo allowed a hit, but struck out three in the seventh while Coons pitched a perfect eighth, retiring the three hitters he faced.
The Aztecs totaled only six hits on the night including two apiece by Quintin Berry and Brian Kinsman, who had come off the bench in the third to play first base. Kinsman also scored a run and recorded an RBI. Freshman Mike Willeford had SDSU's only extra-base hit of the contest, an RBI double in the eighth.
San Diego State will now turn its attention to this weekend's three-game Mountain West Conference series against league-leading TCU that gets underway on Friday (April 28) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Long Beach State 16, San Diego State 4SDSU 00 1 010 020 - 4 6 2LBSU 10(10) 221 00x - 16 15 1Miller, Koons (3), Lynch (3). Suwyn (5), Bruckart (6), Triolo (7), Coon (8) and AndersonAndrade, Peterson (3), Lamontagne (5), Turmail (7), Malott (9) and MasudaW - Peterson (1-1)L - Miller (1-3)Sv - NoneHR - NoneAtt. - 972Time - 3:29