May 24, 2007
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Three unearned runs proved to be the difference as New Mexico defeated San Diego State, 4-1, Thursday evening at the Mountain West Conference Baseball Tournament in Las Vegas. The loss eliminated the Aztecs from the championship event and brought down the curtain on their 2007 campaign as they finish the season with an overall record of 29-30.
For the second day in a row, the Aztecs were stymied by a Lobo left-hander. This time it was Jacob Norton (5-7) who tossed a complete game, scattering five hits and striking out six. In two games against New Mexico at the tournament, SDSU scored just one run, and its lack of offense led to its early exit.
Aztec sophomore left Lance Sewell was the victim of the Aztecs offensive woes as he saw his record fall to 5-6. He allowed just two unearned runs on four hits over his three innings of work, but it was enough pin the loss on him.
New Mexico (28-29) opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the second. A single to Ian Hollick and walk to Adam Courcha opened the inning, and they both moved up a base on Jay Russell's sacrifice bunt. After a strikeout, Scott Gracey's grounder to Nick Romero behind third base was thrown away, allowing both runners to come home.
The Aztecs lone run came in the fourth when they cut the two-run deficit in half. Brian Lucas' single up the middle scored Nick Romero, who had singled with one out and moved to third after a walk to Frank LoNigro and fielder's choice off the bat of Brandon Glover.
The Lobos added another unearned run in the fifth, again with two outs. After Matt Hibbitts singled, Hollick's chopper in the infield was dropped by Romero, who then threw the ball past first baseman Joe Spiers allowing Hibbits to score from first.
In the next inning, UNM made it a 4-1 contest after Jay Russell was hit by SDSU reliever Shane Kaufman, was sacrificed to second by Drew McDonald, and scored on a single up the middle by Scott Gracey.
Other than the inning in which they scored, the Aztecs had a base runner in six other frames, but could not get the key hit to sustain a rally. No SDSU player had more than one hit on the night, and all five were singles.
The game brought an end to the collegiate careers of a pair of San Diego seniors: pitcher Bruce Billings and catcher Frank LoNigro. Billings finished as the SDSU career leader in strikeouts while LoNigro ended his lone season with the program as the team leader in home runs and slugging percentage.