March 4, 2007
STOCKTON, Calif. - Lance Sewell pitched a three-hitter over eight innings and San Diego State got the offensive production it was missing on Saturday as it knocked off 29th-ranked Baylor, 6-2, Sunday afternoon at Klein Family Field in Stockton, Calif. The game was SDSU's final contest of the Pacific State Bank Tiger Classic and was a show piece for Sewell, who allowed two runs and struck out a career-high 11 batters en route to improving to 3-0 on the season.
With the victory, the Aztecs concluded a successful four-game road trip, winning three of their four games in Stockton to improve to 11-8. Baylor, meanwhile, lost for the second straight day and saw its record drop to 9-6.
Sewell's only rough spell came in the second inning when the Bears loaded the bases on a single and a pair of walks with two outs. Chase Gerdes then blooped a 1-2 pitch to left that just eluded a diving Troy Hanzawa, who almost ran the ball down from his shortstop position.
The Aztecs answered back with a run in the bottom of the third when Hanzawa led off the inning with a double to right center field and was advanced to third by Brandon Glover's sacrifice bunt. Nick Romero followed with a sacrifice fly to center to make it a 2-1 ball game.
In the next inning, SDSU got to Baylor starter Cliff Springston (1-2) for five runs on five hits including four doubles to take the lead for good.
The first two-bagger came off the bat of catcher Frank LoNigro, who went to third on a bunt single by designated hitter Aaron Brady. A double by Garett Green, this one to left, scored LoNigro to tie the contest and put runners of second and third. Cameron Johnson's grounder to second gave SDSU the lead before Hanzawa singled up the middle to bring home Green with the third run of the inning.
A double by Glover, his second of the contest, put runners at second and third and spelled the end of the day for Springston, who was relieved by Kendal Volz. After getting a ground out to first that froze the runners, Volz gave up a two-run double to Brian Lucas to complete the scoring.
Sewell, meanwhile, allowed just two base runners from the third through eighth innings (a walk and a single), retiring 15 of the final 16 hitters he faced. Freshman Stephen Strasburg came on to pitch the ninth, giving up a single while striking out two to nail down the win for SDSU.
Hanzawa, Glover, LoNigro, Lucas and Green had two hits apiece for the Aztecs with Hanzawa scoring a pair of runs.
San Diego State will now prepare to host the Tony Gwynn 2007 Classic next weekend with a field that includes Michigan, Oklahoma and University of San Diego. The Aztecs will open play by hosting Oklahoma on Friday, Mar. 9, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.