April 8, 2008
SAN DIEGO - Arizona scored 10 runs over the middle five innings to negate an early San Diego State lead as the Wildcats claimed an 11-6 win over the Aztecs Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. A nine-run lead proved too much for SDSU to overcome despite a grand slam by third baseman Nick Romero, who finished the contest with five RBI.
The win improved Arizona, ranked 25th in this week's Rivals.com poll, to 16-11. SDSU, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 18-14 as it lost for the fourth time in its last five outings.
The game began well enough for San Diego State, which scored a run in the opening inning on a double by Pat Colwell, single by Troy Hanzawa and a sacrifice fly by Nick Romero. Aztec starting pitcher Jon Berger retired the first six men he faced over the first two frames as things were looking positive for the home team.
However, the Wildcats scored a pair of runs in the top of the third to take a lead it they would not relinquish. They were aided by SDSU's inability to get a clutch hit when needed as the Aztecs had a runner on third with less than two out in both the third and fourth innings, but failed to convert. As a result, Berger was tagged with the loss to drop to 2-5 on the season.
Arizona continued to add to its advantage, scoring twice in both the fifth and sixth innings and adding four more in the seventh for a 10-1 lead. UA first baseman C.J. Ziegler was his team's top hitter on the evening with three singles, a double and two runs batted in. Third baseman Brad Glenn had only one hit in the contest, but it was a three-run homer deep to left field that provided his team's final three-runs in the seventh.
Wildcat starter Mike Colla allowed just the lone run on four hits over six innings with half a dozen strikeouts before being lifted in the bottom of the seventh in favor of reliever Daniel Schlereth. Colla received credit for the win to even his record at 2-2.
San Diego State attempted a comeback effort in that seventh inning when a single by Cory Vaughn, a walk to T.J. Thomas and a hit by pitch to Pat Colwell loaded the bases. Troy Hanzawa was then hit by pitch to bring home a run before Romero stepped up and launched his grand slam over the left field fence to make it a 10-6 contest.
However, that was as close as the Aztecs would get as Arizona added a run in the top of the ninth, then called on closer Jason Stoffel in the bottom of the frame after Hanzawa led off with a single to center. Stoffel proceeded to strike out the side to nail down the victory for the Wildcats.
Hanzawa and Colwell finished with two hits apiece to account for half of SDSU's hits on the night.
Arizona and San Diego State will wrap up their two-game mid-week set with a contest on Wednesday, April 9, at 1:00 p.m.