March 22, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - San Diego State scored eight time over the first two innings and senior right-hander J.R. Murphy made those runs stand up for eight innings as the Aztecs captured the rubber game of their Mountain West Conference series with Utah by the score of 9-3. The victory improved SDSU to 12-10 overall as it maintained its grip on first place in the MWC at 5-1. The Utes, meanwhile, dropped to 7-12 (1-2 MWC).
SDSU got off to the perfect start as Pat Colwell was hit by pitch to start the contest and Troy Hanzawa followed with a single through the left side. Nick Romero then drove in both runners with his third home run of the season, a shot down the right field line. The homer was the 18th of his career, moving him into a tie for 15th on the SDSU career list with, among others, head coach Tony Gwynn.
Those three runs were only the beginning, as the Aztecs weren't done scoring in the opening frame. With two outs, singles by Brandon Glover, Brett Tanos and Erik Castro made it 4-0. When Brandon Decker reached on a throwing error by Utah shortstop Cory Shimada, Tanos scored from third and San Diego State found itself with a five-run lead. All five runs came off Ute starter Andrew Wilding, who lasted only two-thirds of an inning and would take the loss to even his record at 1-1.
The Aztecs added three runs more in the top of the second with a rally that began with a leadoff single by Troy Hanzawa. With one out, Green was hit by pitch and Cory Vaughn walked to load the bases. Glover then delivered a single to left center to bring home two runs and Tanos hit a sacrifice fly to left give SDSU an 8-0 advantage.
San Diego State starting pitcher J.R. Murphy kept Utah's offense at bay much of the afternoon, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits as he picked up the win to move his record to 3-1. Over his 7.1 innings of work, Murphy struck out eight and walked none. He left the contest with one out and none on in the bottom of the eighth, giving way to Brandon Pullen and Michael Dixon, who each recorded an out to close out the frame.
The Aztecs added their final run in the top of the ninth when Castro's single drove home Tanos, who had walked and stolen second ahead of him. Freshman hurler Addison Reed came on to close out the game in the bottom of the inning, retiring the side in order to secure the victory.
Castro finished the day with three hits and a pair of runs batted in. Hanzawa, Glover and Romero tallied three hits apiece with the latter two accounting for two and three RBI respectively.
Up next for San Diego State is a contest with 12th-ranked UCLA on Tuesday, March 25, at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium.