March 25, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State broke open a tie game with four runs in the bottom of the seventh and went on to defeat 23rd-ranked UCLA, 6-3, Tuesday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The rally ended what had been a pitchers duel between SDSU starter Shane Kaufman and UCLA reliever Matt Drummond, both of whom pitched well enough to deserve the win, but which neither got.
Just as it had in three of its previous four contests, SDSU scored in its first at bat to take the early lead. This time it was Pat Colwell leading off with a single up the middle and promptly stealing second. After a walk to Nick Romero, Garett Green delivered an RBI single to give the home side a quick 1-0 advantage.
That run came off Bruin starter Justin Uribe, who was forced to leave the game with two out in the opening frame with what looked to be an injury to a finger on his throwing hand. He was relieved by Drummond, who got the final out of the inning with two runners on base to limit the damage.
Kaufman, who was making his first start since Feb. 26, faced the minimum over the opening three innings, striking out five in the process. Although he allowed a walk in the first and single in the third, he was able to erase the runners via a caught stealing and a double play.
The Aztec senior right-hander ran into trouble in the top of the fourth, however, as UCLA (10-9) put together four hits, scoring twice to take a 2-1 lead. RBI singles from Gabe Cohen and Ryan Babineau did the damage.
San Diego State (13-10) wasted little time striking back as it tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a leadoff home run deep over the left field wall by Cory Vaughn. It was the freshman's third homer and 19th run batted in of the season.
From there, both pitchers settled in and kept the opposition at bay. Kaufman worked a total of six innings on the night before giving way to James McLaughlin to start the seventh. Along the way, Kaufman recorded a career-high nine strikeouts while allowing the two runs on seven hits and a pair of walks.
Drummond, meanwhile, allowed at least one base runner in every inning, but was in control throughout his 5.2 innings of work. But he would end up taking the loss when the Bruin bullpen let him down.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Colwell singled off Drummond and it spelled the end of the night for the Bruin lefty. With Jason Novak on in relief, Troy Hanzawa stepped up and hit a triple off the center field fence to score Colwell with a run that was charged to Drummond, who saw his record fall to 1-2. A fielder's choice off the bat of Romero scored Hanzawa to give SDSU a 4-2 lead.
Garett Green then stepped up and belted a solo homer run to left, his team-leading fourth of the year. The SDSU rally continued as a walk to Vaughn and single by Brandon Glover put runners on first and third. When Glover took off for second and was caught in a rundown, Vaughn broke for home and beat the throw home as SDSU executed the double steal and increased its lead to 6-2.
McLaughlin was the beneficiary of his teammate's offensive rally as he was credited with the win to improve to 2-0. The junior right-hander went two innings, allowing no hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Freshman closer Addison Reed came on to pitch the ninth and closed out the contest, despite giving up the first run of his collegiate career after 12 scoreless frames to start the year. A two-out triple by Brandon Crawford was followed by a single to left by Babineau provide the final 6-3 score line.
For SDSU, Green finished his night with a pair of hits, two RBI and a run scored while Colwell also had a pair of singles and scored twice. The trio of Aztec hurlers struck out a total of 13 Bruins as the pitching staff reached double figures in that category for the third time in the past four games.
San Diego State continues its current five-game home stand as it hosts Harvard on Wednesday, March 26, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.