March 17, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Southern Utah needed only one inning to do all the damage necessary as it ended an eight-game losing streak at the expense of San Diego State with a 5-3 win over the Aztecs Monday evening. The win helped the Thunderbirds improve to 6-9 on the year while SDSU dropped to 10-8 as it saw a three-game winning streak halted.
Wearing green jerseys and caps in honor of St. Patrick's Day, San Diego State was on the receiving end of some good fortune in the second inning when it put the game's opening run on the board. Cory Vaughn led off the frame by striking out swinging, but the ball got away from SUU catcher Matt Bezzant, whose throw to first was in plenty of time but sailed by first baseman Bucky Aona, who lost the ball in the sun.
Brett Tanos then hit a grounder to third, but Thunderbird second baseman Kili'l Zablan suffered the same fate as Aona, losing the throw from third in the setting sun and allowing Vaughn to advance to third. Erik Castro then hit a sacrifice fly to right to give the Aztecs a 1-0 lead.
The visitors wasted little time responding, putting up five runs in the top of the third off SDSU freshman Brett Miller, who was making his first collegiate start. Miller, who had little trouble over the first two frames, allowed the five runs on four hits, a hit batter and a throwing error during the visitors' lone offensive outburst.
Miller completed the inning, but it would be his last of the night as he would eventually be tagged with the loss and fall to 0-1. Junior right-hander James McLaughlin came on to begin the fourth, and went the final six innings allowing just three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
For Southern Utah, starting pitcher Kyle Milling was keeping the SDSU hitters off balance with a good mix of curves, sliders and changeups. Although he gave up hits in the first third and fourth inning, all came with two outs and posed little threat to the score line.
The Aztecs' second run involved a bit of good fortune as well when Josh Chasse led off the fifth with a hit to right that elude a diving Ray Wright in right field and went to the wall for a triple. Brandon Glover's sac fly brought Chasse home to make it a 5-2 game.
SDSU got within two runs in the next inning, manufacturing a run with two out. A single by Brett Tanos and walk to Castro was followed by an RBI single off the bat of Cameron Johnson. After that hit made it 5-3, however, Milling proceeded to retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced including the final eight in a row as he improved his record to 2-1.
Nick Romero was the lone Aztec to record more than one hit on the evening, singling in each of his first two plate appearances.
San Diego State will now make a short trip north to take on 5th-ranked Long Beach State on Tuesday, March 189m at 6:30 p.m. (PDT) at Blair Field.