March 14, 2007
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Bryan Horst's single in the bottom of the 10th drove in the winning run as UC Riverside came from behind to defeat San Diego State, 4-3, Tuesday evening at the Riverside Sports Complex. The Highlanders scored single runs in each of the final three frames to erase a 3-1 deficit and come away with the victory.
SDSU (12-11) got another fine pitching performance from its starter as freshman left Nate Solow went five strong innings giving up just three hits while striking out seven.
Solow was removed from the game in the bottom of the sixth in favor of reliever J.R Murphy. The junior right-hander gave up back to back singles to Carl Uhl and Joey Gonzales to open the inning, with Uhl advancing to third when left fielder Cameron Johnson bobbled Gonzales' hit. After Murphy struck out Jaime Pedroza, UC Riverside (13-9) capitalized on the error as Uhl scored on a ground out to third for the unearned run.
Riverside's one-run lead held up until the top of the eighth when the home side gifted the Aztecs three unearned runs. Singles by Garett Green and Troy Hanzawa put runners at first and second with one out. Josh Chasses' grounder to the right of second base, a potential double play ball, went through the legs of Bryan Horst, allowing pinch runner Brandon Decker to score with the tying run.
Brandon Glover's sacrifice fly brought home Hanzawa with Chasse scoring two batters later on a wild pitch to give SDSU a 3-1 lead.
UCR starter Marc Rzepczynski ended his evening during the eighth, finishing his 7.2 innings with three runs allowed on four hits with 10 strikeouts.
The Highlanders began their comeback with a run in the bottom of the inning off SDSU reliever Shane Kaufman, who loaded the base with one out on a hit batter, single and walk. Stephen Strasburg then came on to get the second out of the inning with a strikeout, but walked the next batter to make it a 3-2 ball game before retiring the side with another strikeout.
In the home half of the ninth, Strasburg got the first two outs before walking Uhl, who stole second. Gonzales then singled to left on a 2-2 pitch to tie the score at 3-3.
SDSU loaded the bases in its half of the 10th against UCR reliever Joe Kelly, but Stephen Penny came on in relief to get out of the jam. Penney would be the eventual winner as he evened his record at 1-1.
With Aaron Brady on the mound in the bottom of the inning, the Highlanders got a pair of walks before Horst's two-out single brought home the winning run and made a loser of Brady (1-3).
Shortstop Troy Hanzawa, making just his fourth appearance of the year in the leadoff spot, led the Aztecs with three hits (a double and two singles) and scored once.
San Diego State will now prepare for its upcoming three-game home series against UCLA which gets underway on Friday (Mar. 16) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.