April 29, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Chad Huffman's two-run homer, his second of the game, in the top of the 10th inning gave TCU a 7-5 win over San Diego State Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. It was SDSU's fourth extra-inning loss in four games this season and the third in Mountain West Conference play as they fell to 16-30 overall and 9-6 in the MWC. The win pushed the Horned Frog's season record to 26-18 (12-3 MWC).
Huffman's game-winning hit came after the Aztecs had come from behind with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 5-5. In that inning, Curt Mendoza's two-out double to left center off TCU reliever Donald Furrow brought home Nick Romero and Paul Smyth, who had singled and walked respectively with one out before Furrow came on.
With Adam Simon on the mound for SDSU in the 10th and Bryan Kervin on second via a single, Huffman launched a pitch deep over the left field fence that would make a winner of Furrow and improve him to 2-0 on the season. TCU closer Sam Demel came on to pitch the bottom of the inning, retiring the side in order to pick up his fourth save. SDSU's Simon, who lost for the second straight time in extra innings, saw his record fall to 0-6.
San Diego State had taken the early lead in support of some good pitching by freshman Lance Sewell. Tim O'Brien's homer, his 10th of the season, staked the home side to a 1-0 lead in the second. Lance Zawadzki added a solo homer in the next inning, and SDSU scored a third run in the same frame on consecutive singles by Romero, Smyth and Brock Ungricht to make it a 3-0 contest.
TCU finally got to Sewell in the fifth with the two-run homer by Keith Colon and an RBI single from Steven Trout that made it a 3-3 game. At that point, Sewell was lifted in favor of reliever Mike Koons, who was greeted by Huffman's first homer of the afternoon, a two-run shot to left center that gave the visitors a 5-3 advantage. That set the stage for SDSU's eventual comeback in the seventh and Huffman's heroics in the 10th.
Freshman Nick Romero was the lone Aztec with more than one hit on the day as he tallied a pair of singles and scored twice. Mendoza has a pair of RBI, with his seventh inning double just missing clearing the left center field wall.
TCU and San Diego State will conclude their three game series on Sunday (April 30) with a contest slated to start at 1:00 p.m. Prior to the game, the Aztecs will honor 11 seniors who will be making their final weekend game appearance for SDSU.
TCU 7, San Diego State 5 (10 innings)TCU 000 050 000 2 - 7 10 0SDS 012 000 200 0 - 5 8 0Furnish, furrow (7), Demel (10) and WalkerSewell, Koons (5), Simon (8) and SwaydanW - Furrow (2-0)L - Simon (0-6)Sv - Demel (4)HR - TCU: Conlon-4 (5th-one on) TCU: Huffman-8 (5th-one on) TCU: Huffman-9 (10th-one on) SDS: O'Brien (2nd-none on) SDS: Zawadzki-2 (3rd-none on)Time - 3:32Att. - 370