May 20, 2008
| Game Highlights |
FORT WORTH - San Diego State failed to take advantage of several scoring opportunities early and wasted a fine pitching performance by junior James McLaughlin as it fell to UNLV, 6-2, in the opening game of the 2008 Mountain West Conference Tournament Tuesday afternoon at TCU's Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth Texas. The Aztecs will now have to fight their way back through the losers' bracket beginning with the early game tomorrow morning.
In four of the first five innings, SDSU put a runner on second but was unable to cash in as it went 0-for-7 with men in scoring position over those frames. It was the primary factor behind the Aztecs seeing their record fall to 30-27 as they lost for the fifth straight outing. UNLV, meanwhile, improved to 22-35, overcoming its season series finale when it dropped two of three at Air Force.
After facing the minimum over the first five innings with the only runner allowed being a hit batter in the second, McLaughlin gave up pair of runs in the sixth. Mark Rinaudo led off the frame with a single and was sacrificed to second by Anthony Morel. A single to left by Bryan Resnick drove home Rinaudo with Resnick advancing to second when Brandon Decker misplayed the ball in left. A double down the right field by J.J. Sfarra allowed Resnick to cross the plate with the Rebels' second run.
Aztec third baseman Nick Romero was the bright spot for the Aztecs offensively as he went 4-for-4 on the day with his solo homer in the sixth accounting for SDSU's first run of the afternoon. The homer was his 12th of the season and 27th of his career as he is now one away from tying the San Diego State single-season mark of 28 held jointly by Paul Lockhart (1997-2000)and Curt Mendoza (2003-06). His dozen homers are the most in a season by an Aztec since Alex Pelaez belted 16 during the 1998 campaign.
Romero again played a part in an SDSU run in the eighth, leading off with a single and advancing to second on a ground out by Garett Green. That spelled the end of the afternoon for UNLV starter Cory Hales, who finished his 7.1 innings with two runs allowed on six hits with two walks and three strikeouts. That brought on reliever Michael Goodman, who was greeted by a single up the middle off the bat of Brandon Glover that drove home Romero and knotted the contest at 2-2.
The Rebels' winning runs came in the top of the ninth as they loaded the bases on an infield single, intentional walk and hit batter. Braden Walker then hit a two-out bloop single to center that scored a pair of runs to make it 4-2. An additional two runs scored when Steve Rinaudo's fly ball to shallow left field was dropped by Decker for an error.
Those runs made a loser of McLaughlin, whose record dropped to 3-2. The six runs (four earned) that he allowed came on only five hits and one walk as he finished with six strikeouts (all looking).
Goodman was the beneficiary of his team's rally as he picked up the win to improve to 2-4. Adam Moser was brought on in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game and he retired the side in order to send the Rebels into a winners' bracket game against New Mexico Wednesday afternoon.
San Diego State will return to Lupton Stadium on Wednesday, May 21, at 11:00 a.m. (CDT) to take on the loser of the Utah-Brigham Young contest being contested Tuesday night.