March 9, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Two Loyola Marymount pitchers kept the San Diego State offense at bay over the final seven innings while their teammates scored in four of those frames as LMU defeated SDSU, 7-2, Saturday night as part of the 2008 Aztec Invitational. The loss was the fifth in the last six outing for the Aztecs, who saw their record fall to the .500 mark at 6-6. With the victory, the Lions improved to 5-7.
LMU starter Martin Viramontes and reliever Lee Roberts combined to strikeout out 15 Aztecs en route to the win. It was the second straight contest in which SDSU batters fanned 15 times, and as a result the team was unable to generate any offensive rhythm. Viramontes tossed the first five innings, striking out 10 en route to evening his record at 1-1. Roberts came on to start the sixth, and allowed just two hits while recording five K's to pick up his first save of the year.
The game began in fine fashion for San Diego State as it scored in its first at bat on a walk to Brandon Glover, a single by Brett Tanos and an RBI double off the bat of Nick Romero. The home side made it 2-0 one inning later on a walk to Cory Vaughn and a two-out RBI single from freshman catcher Kevin Silvett.
Aztec starter Nate Solow retired the first six batters he faced in the contest, but ran into trouble in the third when LMU reached him for a pair of runs to tie the game at 2-2. The Lions used a walk, an SDSU throwing error, a single and a sacrifice fly to generate the two runs.
In the top of the fifth, Loyola Marymount took the lead for good, scoring twice off Solow on a single by Michael Glomb, an RBI double by T.J. Bernardy and a run-scoring single by A.J. LaMonda. Solow pitched into the seventh inning during which the Lions added a pair of runs to make it a 6-2 contest. He finished the night with six runs allowed (five earned) on just four hits. He walked one and struck out five, but with little offensive support was saddled with the loss to fall to 1-2.
LMU tacked on its final run in the eighth on back-to-back doubles by center fielder Angelo Songco and designated hitter Sean Dovel.
Junior third baseman Nick Romero was the lone Aztec with more than one hit on the night, recording doubles in each of his first two plate appearances.
San Diego State continues play in the Aztec Invitational Sunday morning (March 9) when it faces 20th-ranked Oklahoma in a contest scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. (PDT) start. In the second game of the day, Oregon State will take on Santa Clara at 2:00 p.m.