April 13, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State, behind the pitching of Shane Kaufman and the hitting of Troy Hanzawa and Pat Colwell, completed a three-game sweep of Utah with a 6-2 victory over the Utes Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win enabled the Aztecs to maintain their grip on first place in the Mountain West Conference as they improved to 21-15 overall and 9-3 in league play. Utah saw its record drop to 13-17 (3-5 MWC).
Kaufman (1-1) turned in his second consecutive strong starting effort, going 7.2 innings before leaving the game in the eighth after allowing a two-out single. The senior right-hander scattered eight hits while allowing the two Ute runs (one earned) and walking only one to go along with his SDSU career-best 11 strikeouts.
Just as it did on Saturday, San Diego State jumped on top with a pair of runs in the first inning. After Colwell led off with a single and advanced to second on balk, Hanzawa singled to right to bring him home. The Aztec shortstop then stole second and went to third when catcher Jesse Shriner's throw went into center field. Hanzawa then scored on a ground out by Nick Romero.
Those runs came off Utah starting hurler John James, who would go only 3.2 innings on the afternoon and suffer the loss to fall to 2-4 on the year.
SDSU added single markers in the third and fourth to extend its lead to 4-0. In the third, Jason Schaniel's single up the middle drove home Garett Green with the home side's third run of the game. In the next frame, a bases-loaded walk to Green brought home run number four.
Utah scored both of its run in the fifth to make it a 4-2 contest. After a single and an error put runners on second and third, DC Legg's hit to left brought home the first run. A sacrifice bunt moved the runners up a base before the Utes scored their second run on a balk by Kaufman. Following the balk, Kaufman proceeded to retire the next 10 batters he faced until the two-out single in the eighth.
San Diego State added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth as doubles by Colwell and Brandon Decker put runners on second and third before Hanzawa came through with a two-run single up the middle, his third hit of the afternoon.
SDSU freshman closer Addison Reed came on in the ninth to close out the game. He retired the first batter on a strikeout before the next hitter reached first on a fielding error. Reed then got pinch hitter Nick Kuroczko to ground into the 6-4-3 double play to end the contest.
Hanzawa, who collected three singles and three RBI while scoring once, led the Aztec offense along with Colwell, who had a single, double and scored three times.
San Diego State will take a break from conference play as it closes out its current nine-game home stand with a contest against UC Riverside on Tuesday, April 15, at 6:00 p.m. (PDT).