May 13, 2006
Provo, Utah - For the third game in a row at Brigham Young, San Diego State scored first to take the lead, but unlike the previous two outings in Provo, the pitching of Bruce Billings made it stand up Saturday afternoon in a 10-5 win over the Cougars at Larry H. Miller Field in Provo.
The contest was the final Mountain West Conference contest of the season for the Aztecs (21-34; 14-8 MWC) as they will await next weekend's league results to determine their final standing and seeding for the MWC tournament. The loss dropped BYU to 26-26 overall and 11-8 in conference play.
In the opening inning, a leadoff walk to Quintin Berry was followed by second baseman Mike Willeford's single to center, putting runners on first and second. A double steal was followed by an infield single off the bat of Paul Smyth to bring Berry home and give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Aztecs stretched their lead to 3-0 in the next inning as a leadoff walk to Curt Mendoza was cashed in by Tim O'Brien, who blasted his 11th home run of the season deep over the left field fence.
Cougar starter Patrick Wells, who ended up tossing the first five innings, left the game with the three-run deficit, taking the loss to fall to 5-6 on the year.
The score remained that way until BYU gifted San Diego State three unearned runs in the top of the eighth. Brian Kinsman led off the frame with a single, and when Chris Anderson's bunt single was thrown away by Cougar reliever Jake Wortham, Kinsman scored from first and Anderson took second.
Quintin Berry was then hit by pitch, and when Mike Willeford's sac bunt attempt was thrown away by third baseman Daniel Vargas, both Anderson and Berry scored to give the Aztecs a 6-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, SDSU starter Bruce Billings gave way to Adam Simon after throwing just over 120 pitches on the day. Billings (6-3) tossed seven inning of shutout ball, scattering six hits while striking out five. The Cougars had base runners in every inning but the third against the Aztec right-hander, but he consistently worked out of trouble as he stranded 10 BYU runners over the first seven frames.
After Simon shut the Cougars down in the eighth, SDSU added four insurance runs in their final at bat as Curt Mendoza's towering homer over the left field fence also scored Nick Romero, who had doubled ahead of him. Then, a single by Tim O'Brien was followed one out later by an RBI double to right center field by Chris Anderson to make it a 9-0 contest. Anderson advanced to third on a fly out by Berry and scored on Mike Willeford's two-out single up the middle
Brigham Young avoided the shutout, scoring five runs with two out in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases with three walks and getting singles from Seth Johnson and Daniel Vargas plus a double to Casey Nelson before Brett Douglas was brought on to pitch. The Aztec junior right-hander needed just three pitches to strike out Stetson Banks and close out the game.
SDSU's Mike Willeford ended the afternoon with four hits and a pair of sacrifice bunts in six plate appearances. In addition, Mendoza, O'Brien and Anderson each had a pair of hits, two runs batted in and two runs scored.
San Diego State now returns home for its final regular-season contest of 2006 as it hosts third-ranked Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, May 16, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
San Diego State 10, Brigham Young 5SDS 120 000 034 - 10 14 0BYU 000 000 005 - 3 10 2Billings, Simon (8) and AndersonWells, Bingham (6), Wortham (7), Barrett (9) and NelsonW - Billings (6-3)L - Wells (5-6)Sv - NoneHR - SDS: O'Brien-11 (2nd-one on) SDS: Mendoza-8 (9th-one on)Att. - 1,101Time - 3:24