May 10, 2007
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State fired on all cylinders Thursday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium as it opened its three-game conference series against Brigham Young by defeating the Cougars, 9-1. The victory ended a season-long nine-game losing streak for the Aztecs, who improved to 28-26 overall and 12-10 in league play. The Cougars, meanwhile, fell to 29-18 (12-7 MWC).
SDSU senior starting pitcher Bruce Billings set the tempo of the game as he survived a shaky first inning and went on to pick up his fourth win of the season. In the process, he established a new SDSU career strikeout mark when he fanned BYU third baseman Steve Parker in the fifth innings for his 300th career K. Billings (4-3) went seven innings, scattering six hits and striking out seven batters.
Brigham Young took a quick lead in the contest, scoring a run in the first on a walk to leadoff hitter Leon Johnson, a stolen base and an RBI single by Stephen Wells. The visitors went on to load the bases with two outs on another walk and a hit batsman before Billings struck out Chase Frampton to end the threat.
The Aztecs responded quickly, scoring a pair in the bottom of the opening frame courtesy of a pair of Cougar errors and a run-scoring single by Brandon Glover. SDSU took a 3-1 lead in third when Frank LoNigro doubled and went to third when his hit was misplayed by the BYU left fielder. He then came home on Glover's second RBI single of the contest.
LoNigro also began SDSU's three-run rally in the fifth with a single that eluded BYU first baseman Kasey Ko. He went to third on another single by Glover and scored on a base hit by Brian Lucas. Glover scored on a balk by BYU starter Jordan Muir with Lucas scoring later in the inning on Pat Colwell's single to left to make it a 6-1 game. Muir, who pitched into the fifth inning, took the loss to fall to 5-4.
LoNigro added his third hit of the game in the sixth, a two-run homer that scored Joe Spiers ahead of him. It was LoNigro's team-leading eighth home run of the season. The Aztecs added their final run in the same inning on a single by Lucas, a passed ball and a single by Garett Green.
Brigham Young and San Diego State continue their three-game series on Friday (May 11) with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.