March 9, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State broke out of its offensive doldrums, scoring 11 runs over the first three innings en route to a 12-4 victory over 20th-ranked Oklahoma State Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs pounded out 18 hits against six Cowboy pitchers to tie their highest total in a game in 2008.
The win ended a brief two-game skid for SDSU, which moved its record to 7-6. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, dropped to 9-3 on the season.
Six San Diego State players finished the afternoon with multiple-hit efforts led by senior shortstop Troy Hanzawa, who had four singles and scored a pair of runs. Brandon Glover and Cameron Johnson each enjoyed three-hit afternoons while teammates Nick Romero and Garett Green contributed four RBI apiece.
The Aztecs opened the game with back-to-back singles by Glover and Hanzawa followed by a walk to Romero. Green then deposited a pitch from OSU starter Matt Gardner over the left field wall for his third home run of the year and first grand slam as an Aztec.
It was the beginning of the end for Gardner, who who would only get through the first five batters in the second inning before the Cowboys summoned reliff from the bull pen. The OSU senior right-hander took the loss and saw his record drop to 1-1.
In that second inning, SDSU struck for five more runs using five singles, a walk, a balk and sacrifice fly to make it a 9-0 score line. After Pat Colwell opened the frame with a single up the middle, he eventually scored on a balk by Gardner. Romero then singled home two runs before scoring himself on a base hit by Cory Vaughn. A sac fly off the bat of T.J. Thomas brought home the fifth run of the inning.
The Aztecs extended their advantage to 11-0 with a pair of runs in the third when a two-RBI single by Romero scored Colwell and Glover, who had both singled to being the frame.
The Cowboys made some noise in the fifth, scoring three times with two of those markers coming on a two-run homer by Jordy Mercer. It proved to be the final inning for SDSU starter J. R. Murphy, who allowed six hits and struck out four over his five innings of work. It was enough to allow the SDSU senior to record the win and even his season record at 1-1.
Junior right-hander James McLaughlin came on to start the sixth in relief of Murphy, going the final four innings and allowing a single run on four hits while picking up his first save of the year.
San Diego State wraps up play in the 2008 Aztec Invitational with a contest against two-time defending national champion Oregon State on Monday, March 10, at 1:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.