March 30, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State built an eight-run lead over the final four innings then held off a Houston comeback attempt in the ninth to register a 9-6 win over the Cougars Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwyn Stadium. With the sweep of the three-game weekend series, SDSU won for the sixth straight time as it improved to 17-10 on the season. UH, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 16-10.
Aztec junior right-hander J.R. Murphy (4-1) posted his fourth victory in his last four starts, allowing a lone run on five hits while striking out five over his 6.2 innings of work. In his four outings, Murphy has received plenty of support in the form of 43 runs put up by his teammates.
Houston took the early lead in the game as it manufactured a run in its first at bat. Leadoff hitter Blake Kelso singled, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Lormand.
Cougar starter Donnie Joseph made that one run stand up over the first four innings as he allowed just a pair of singles and a walk with five strikeouts. SDSU, however, got to the sophomore lefty in the bottom of the fifth as it put four runs on the board and sent him to the showers. Joseph would eventually be tagged with the loss to drop to 0-1 on the year.
In that fifth-inning outburst, SDSU put two runners on with a leadoff walk to Cameron Johnson and hit by pitch to Erik Castro. Mike Willeford then delivered a single to left that knotted the score at one apiece. After Willeford stole second, Troy Hanzawa hit a two-run single up the middle to make it 3-1. Hanzawa promptly stole second and came home on a two-out RBI single by Garett Green.
The Aztecs added two more to their total in the seventh on two singles and an error, then capped their scoring with three runs in the eighth. That eighth inning rally included a two-out two-run triple by Hanzawa and an RBI single from Nick Romero.
With a 9-1 lead heading into the ninth and reliever Shane Kaufman on the mound, SDSU saw the visitors come back with five runs in the final frame. With two out and a runner at first, the Cougars got an RBI double from Kelso followed by two straight walks to load the bases. Freshman Addison Reed then came on, but he struggled with his control and walked two batters to make it a 9-4 contest.
Caleb Ramsey then hit a single to left center to drive in two more runs to make it 9-6, but when he attempted to advance to second on the relay back to the infield, he was thrown out by Hanzawa with Green applying the tag to end the game.
Hanzawa ended the afternoon with three hits including the triple, four RBI and three runs scored. Nick Romero also tallied three hits and drove in a pair of runs while Green finished with two singles and an RBI.
Up next for the Aztecs is a short road trip to Los Angeles to take on 23rd-ranked UCLA on Tuesday, April 1, at 6:00 p.m. at the Bruins' Jackie Robinson Stadium.