March 17, 2007
SAN DIEGO - After finding itself down by three runs in the top of the first inning, San Diego State came back with eight unanswered runs en route to a 12-6 win over UCLA Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win was SDSU's second in two days over the Bruins as it improved to 14-11. UCLA, meanwhile, lost for the seventh time in its last eight outings to fall to 8-12 on the season.
Trailing by three, the Aztecs cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the first on a two-run homer by Nick Romero, his fourth of the season. They took the lead for good in the next frame, putting four runs on the board to forge a 6-3 advantage. In the inning, SDSU got RBIs from Joe Spiers (single), Troy Hanzawa (single) and Brandon Glover (ground out) with Spiers also scoring on a throwing error by Bruin catcher Ryan Babineau as he attempted to steal third.
San Diego State made it an 8-2 contest in the third on Frank LoNigro's sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single by Spiers. Spiers, making just his second appearance after missing almost four weeks with back spasms, had three hits on the day with the two RBI and a run scored.
Although missing his best stuff, Aztec starting hurler Bruce Billings pitched well enough over the first six innings to record the victory and move his record to 2-0. Billings scattered 10 hits and allowed five runs, only three of which were earned.
UCLA, which committed four errors in Friday's loss to SDSU, had five more on Saturday although those miscues only led to a pair of unearned runs. Both of those came at the expense of UCLA starter Tim Murphy (0-1), who lasted only two innings after giving up the Aztecs first six runs on six hits.
San Diego State added two runs in both the fifth and sixth inning off three Bruin relievers as their total of 12 runs was the most since scoring that same number in a win over USC on Feb. 18.
In addition to Spiers, the Aztecs also got multiple-hit efforts from Hanzawa, Romero and Garett Green, who each reached base safely twice. Romero and Green also matched Spiers with two RBI on the afternoon as eight different Aztecs drove in at least one run.
SDSU will look to make it a sweep of its three-game series against UCLA when the teams meet for the final time on Sunday, Mar. 18, at 1:00 p.m. (PDT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium.