May 24, 2006
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - San Diego State got a complete-game pitching effort from junior right-hander Brett Douglas and provided plenty of offensive support as it defeated Air Force, 26-1, Wednesday morning at the Mountain West Conference baseball tournament in Las Vegas. SDSU's run total set a new MWC Tournament record, eclipsing the old standard of 24 set by the Aztecs against New Mexico during the 2004 tourney.
With the win, the Aztecs move on to face UNLV in an elimination game scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start this afternoon (May 24).
Douglas' effort on the mound was just what SDSU needed as it attempted to come back from an opening-day loss to Utah. He scattered six hits and struck out a career-high nine batters while walking only one to improve to 3-2 on the season.
San Diego State opened the game with a single run in the first inning as Quintin Berry was hit by pitch, stole second, advance to third on a ground out to first and scored on Paul Smyth's ground out to short.
SDSU took control of the game with a six-run outburst in the third inning off Air Force starter Josh Meents, who lasted just 2.2 innings while giving up seven runs. The loss dropped the Falcon sophomore's record to 0-6 on the season.
In that six-run third, Paul Smyth connected for a two-run homer to left, his 10th of the season as he became the third Aztec to reach double digits in homers this season. Smyth also had three doubles in the contest to tie an Aztec record. He finished his day going 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored.
Douglas, meanwhile, retired 10 of the first 12 men he faced until the top of the fourth when he made his only mistake of the day, serving up a pitch that Falcon first baseman Karl Bolt hit deep over the left field fence for a solo homer to make it a 7-1 contest.
San Diego State put the game away in the bottom of the sixth, sending 17 men to the plate and scoring a season-high 12 runs on 10 hits plus a pair of Air Force errors. Ten different Aztecs had hits in the frame including doubles by Quintin Berry and Brent Spirnak. Curt Mendoza had a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single for two RBI in the inning while Berry scored a pair of runs.
Berry had a fine day at the plate, collecting four hits including a pair of doubles and a home run (his second in two games) while driving in six. The junior center fielder from San Diego also scored six times to tie the SDSU record, a mark which he and teammate Lance Zawadzki previously tied on May 5 against the Falcons in Colorado Springs.
Zawadzki finished Wednesday's contest with three hits including a double, two RBI and three runs scored. In addition, Brock Ungricht, Tim O'Brien and Mike Willeford also collected two hits apiece.
Today's SDSU-UNLV can be heard live at GoAztecs.com with Alan Horton's pre-game show beginning at approximately 3:45 p.m. (or 15 minutes before the start of the contest). Should SDSU emerge victorious over the Rebels, they would come back Thursday evening for an elimination game at 7:30 p.m.
San Diego State 26, Air Force 1AFA 000 100 000 - 1 4 6SDS 105 00(12) 34x - 26 22 1Meents, Daly (3), Madison (6), Perez (8) and KelterDouglas and Swaydan, Anderson (6)W - Douglas (3-2)L - Meents (0-6)Sv - NoneHR - AFA: Bolt-9 (4th-none on) SDS: Smyth-10 (3rd-one on) SDS: Berry-5 (7th-none on)Att. - 126Time - 3:01