March 26, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Home runs by Nick Romero and Cory Vaughn plus a standout pitchingperformance from starter Jon Berger propelled San Diego State to a 4-0 victory over Harvard Wednesday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win was the third straight for the Aztecs, who improved to 14-10. Harvard, in the midst of a tough west coast road trip, lost for the eighth straight time to fall to 1-13.
The game evolved as a pitchers duel over the first few innings as Berger and Crimson starter Dan Zailskas baffled the opposition hitters.
It was Berger who ran into some potential trouble early on as the second batter of the game, Harvard right fielder Matt Rogers, tripled off the wall in right center field. Matt Vance then hit a ground to the left of SDSU third baseman Romero, who dived to make the grab and threw out Rogers at the plate. From that point, Berger retired nine in a row over the next three innings and 21 of the 23 batters he faced from the second through the eighth innings with the only base runners reaching on a walk and hit better.
Zailskas, who would eventually take the loss to fall to 0-2, retired the first eight hitters he faced in the contest before catcher Kevin Silvett singled with two out in the bottom of the third. The Harvard righty's first major mistake of the night came in the bottom of the fourth when Romero hit a pitch over the right field fence to give SDSU a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, a two-out walk to Romero and a single by Garett Green put two runners on board and set the stage for Vaughn's three-run shot deep to left field to make it a 4-0 game.
Harvard mounted a threat in its final at bat, getting to Berger for a bunt single and a walk to start the ninth. At that point, the junior-right-hander gave way to freshman closer Addison Reed, who came on to record a strikeout and a double play. The win was Berger's first since the opening week of the season as he improved to 1-3. For Reed, it was his fourth save of the year.
With two singles apiece, Green and first baseman T.J. Thomas accounted for half of SDSU's hits in the contest with Romero scoring two of the game's four runs.
Up next for San Diego State is a three-game series with the Houston Cougars that gets underway on Friday, March 28, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.