March 14, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Erik Castro's double down the left field line in the bottom of the seventh inning proved to be the difference in San Diego State's 6-5 win over Brigham Young Friday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The sophomore catcher's hit spoiled a comeback by the Cougars that saw them rally late to tie the game at five-all in the top of the same frame.
It was the Aztec's second win against the BYU in the teams' Mountain West Conference season-opening weekend series as they improved to 9-7 overall and 2-0 in league play. Brigham Young's recorded dropped to 7-9 (0-2 MWC).
San Diego State found itself behind quickly in the contest as Cougar leadoff hitter Sean McNaughton opened the game with a solo home run just inside the left field foul pole. That came against SDSU starter Nate Solow, who pitched well for six innings but was ultimately not involved in the decision.
The Aztecs came back to take the lead in the bottom of the third, scoring four times off BYU hurler Jordan Muir, who entered the contest with a 2.70 earned run average over his first three appearances of the season. That rally began with one-out walk to Brandon Glover, who advanced to third when Muir's pickoff attempt got by first baseman Kasey Ko for two-base error. Glover then scored on a single up the middle by Troy Hanzawa, who in turn was driven home by Garett Green's triple to right.
The scoring continued as Green crossed the plate when Cory Vaughn tripled off the center field wall, with the Aztec freshman coming home on the ensuing single by Brett Tanos to give the home side a 4-1 lead.
Brigham Young retaliated in its next at bat when a triple by Kent Walton and walk to Steve Parker was followed by a balk on Solow. Ko then singled to bring home Parker from second and suddenly it was a one-run affair at 4-3.
The Aztecs added a run in the sixth when Garett Green's base hit drove home Hanzawa, who had singled with two outs and gone to second on a walk to Nick Romero.
With the 5-3 lead, SDSU looked to be in good shape to go on to the victory behind the pitching Solow, who struck out 13 over the first six innings. But when Brandon Relf led off the top of the seventh with a single, San Diego State went to the pen with freshman Michael Dixon coming on in relief. After getting a fly out and strikeout, Dixon gave up a two-run homer to left center field to Walton to knot the score at 5-5.
In the bottom of the inning, the Aztecs scored their winning run when Brett Tanos walked and Castro lined his double down the left field line to score his teammate from first. The rally came against Muir, who ended up taking the loss to fall to 1-2. Perhaps the most appreciative player in the dugout was Dixon, who would complete the eighth inning on the mound and eventually be credited with the win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
After recording the win with 3.1 innings of relief work in Thursday night's 14-inning victory, freshman Addison Reed came back Friday night to toss a 1-2-3 ninth inning and register his third save of the season.
Hanzawa, Romero, Green and Tanos each finished the night with two hits apiece for SDSU with Hanzawa scoring twice and Green driving in a pair.
The Aztecs and Cougars complete their three-game series on Saturday (March 15) with a game set for a 1:00 p.m. (PDT) start at Tony Gwynn Stadium.