May 12, 2007
SAN DIEGO - It was déjàvu al over again for the San Diego State baseball team on Saturday as it fell to Brigham Young in 13 innings at Tony Gwynn Stadium for the second straight day. This time the Cougars put four runs on the board in the final frame to take a 7-3 decision and send the Aztecs to their 11th loss in the last 12 games.
As a result, SDSU finishes the regular season at the .500 mark both overall (28-28) and in Mountain West Conference (12-12) play. It means the Aztecs will likely finish either fourth or fifth in the final standings although there is still a mathematical chance they could wind up in third place.
With the win, BYU improves to 31-18 overall and 14-7 in league action. The Cougars can wrap up second place and a first-round bye in the MWC Tournament with one win in their three-game series against Utah next weekend.
Saturday's game did not start well for the Aztecs as back-to-back dropped fly balls by shortstop Troy Hanzawa and right fielder Frank LoNigro allowed the visitors to take a 1-0 lead in the first.
The scored stayed that way over the next six innings as the contest developed into a pitcher's duel between BYU's Jesse Craig and SDSU's Lance Sewell. Craig scattered six hits over the first six innings while keeping SDSU off the board. The Aztecs had runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth, but could not cash in against the BYU senior right-hander.
Sewell was perhaps even better as he did not allow a hit until Apana Nakayama's bloop single with two out in the sixth. His only mistake of the afternoon came in the top of the seventh when Stephen Wells hit a home run to deep right to give Brigham Young a 2-1 lead. Then, just as it had in the opening frame, Sewell's defense let him down as the Cougars added a second run in the inning on an error by Joe Spiers.
On that play, Spiers booted the grounder by Kent Walton, but picked it up and raced to the bag. Both players arrived at the same time, but Walton was injured when the players collided with both going down. Spiers could not recover as Dan Vargas was able to score from second on the play. Walton came off the worse of the two, however, as the Cougar left fielder was taken to the hospital for treatment, but was able to return to the stadium prior to the end of the contest.
Trailing 3-1 at that point, San Diego State got both of the runs back with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the contest. Back-to-back singles by Brian Lucas and Garett Green set the stage for an RBI single by Cameron Johnson. With Green at third, Johnson broke for second on the steal attempt, and Green raced home with the tying run when the throw was too late to get Johnson.
SDSU right-hander Mike Koons (3-2), who had come on with one out in the 10th inning, got the first two outs in the top of the 13th before BYU struck for four runs. Wells capped off the scoring with another two-run homer to right to give his side the 7-3 advantage.
BYU's Brad Kidd, who had put down an Aztecs threat one inning earlier, allowed a two-out double to Garett Green in the bottom of the 13th before getting the final out to nail down the win as he improved to 2-0 on the season. The Cougar pitching trio of Craig, J.D. Stambaugh and Kidd did not allow a walk over the course of the game.
Green and Cameron Johnson ended the afternoon with four hits apiece as each player scored a run and Johnson contributed an RBI. Nick Romero also had a pair of singles for the Aztecs.
San Diego State will now be idle until the Mountain West Conference Tournament begins on Wednesday, May 23, at UNLV's Earl E. Wilson Stadium in Las Vegas. SDSU will wait for the conclusion of league play by the other six MWC teams next weekend to learn who it will face in the first round.