April 6, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Pat Colwell's two-out single in the bottom of the 11th inning drove home the winning run as San Diego State defeated New Mexico, 3-2, Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Colwell's heroics made a winner of junior right-hander James McLaughlin (3-0), who had just come on in the top of the inning in relief of senior starter Shane Kaufman, who had pitched brilliantly over the first 10 frames. The hit was the fifth of the day for Colwell whose safeties included a double and four singles plus a sac bunt, run scored and the all-important RBI to end the contest.
The victory improved the Aztecs to 6-3 in the Mountain West Conference (18-13 overall) as it ended the weekend still clinging to first place in the league standings. Five other teams, though, are just one game back including New Mexico, which dropped to 20-11 overall and 5-4 in the MWC.
After a less than auspicious beginning to the contest, Kaufman settled in nicely and kept the Lobos at bay through 10 innings. His only mistake of the afternoon came early as he gave up a leadoff walk to Mike Brownstein followed by a two-run homer to Kevin Atkinson that gave the visitors a quick 2-0 lead. From there, the senior righty allowed only three more hits and a walk while striking out four over the first 10 frames. UNM had two runners on base in only one inning, and a double play erased that threat.
On the other side, New Mexico starter Steven Smith was just as effective and he kept the Aztecs off the scoreboard over the first four frames. However, SDSU cut the deficit in half with a run in the fifth on singles by Colwell and Troy Hanzawa plus a sacrifice fly by Nick Romero.
Two innings later, San Diego State tied the game at 2-2 when Brandon Decker was hit by pitch and advanced to second on Colwell's sacrifice bunt. Hanzawa then singled to right to bring Decker home. It was Hanzawa's third hit of the contest as he and Colwell accounted for eight of SDSU's 10 hits.
By the time the 11th inning rolled around, both starters had departed the game with McLaughlin coming on for Kaufman and Daniel Grubbs having relieved Smith in the bottom of the ninth. The Aztec half of the 11th started with Brett Tanos reaching first on a fielding error by Lobo third baseman Ian Hollick. A sacrifice bunt by Erik Castro moved Tanos to second and he came home one out later on Colwell's deciding hit to center. The unearned run pinned the loss on Grubbs, his first of the year as he saw his record fall to 2-1.
Up next for San Diego State is a mid-week two game series against 11th-ranked Arizona at home. The Aztecs and Wildcats will meet Tuesday evening (April 8) at 6:00 p.m. (PDT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium followed by a day game on Wednesday (April 9) at 1:00 p.m.