March 1, 2009
SAN DIEGO - After opening Saturday's twin bill with Pacific with a 6-3 loss, San Diego State came back to capture game two, 8-3, behind the hitting of Brandon Decker and pitching of Craig Rasmussen. The doubleheader, played at Tony Gwynn Stadium, saw SDSU improve to 4-3 on the year while the Tigers' record dropped to 3-4. If missed opportunities were the story of the first game, timely hitting was the theme of game two.
In the opener, SDSU again got a solid pitching effort form senior Jon Berger, but some sloppy fielding and failure to cash in scoring chances led to the defeat. Berger, who fell to 0-2 on the season, went seven innings, allowing five runs (three earned) with no walks and four strikeouts.
With the game tied 2-2, the Aztecs ended the fifth through seventh innings with runners on first and third, then put the first two men on in the eighth yet failed to score. Those missed opportunities would come back to haunt them as the visitors scored four times in the top of the eighth with a pair of errors contributing to three of the runs being unearned.
SDSU had a shot in its final at bat as it loaded the base with one out, but was only able to push a lone consolation run across.
Mitch Blackburn had three hits and an RBI in the losing cause while teammates Pat Colwell, Brandon Meredith and T.J. Thomas had two apiece. Both teams finished with 11 hits in the game, but only UOP's Nick Longmire's home run went for extra bases.
The nightcap saw junior outfielder Brandon Decker account for half of San Diego State's hits as he went 4-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and a run batted in.
Sophomore Craig Rasmussen made his first career start as an Aztec and came away a winner to improve to 1-0. Over his five innings of work, he gave up three runs on six hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts.
SDSU fell behind in the top of the third when Pacific tallied a pair of runs on a walk, two hit batters and a two-run double. That lead was short-lived, however, as the Aztecs sent 10 men to the plate in the bottom of the inning, scoring five times on three hits, three walks and a hit batter.
With a 5-2 lead, Aztec pitching took care of the rest as Andrew Leary threw three innings of shutout ball from the sixth through eighth and Addison Reed came on in the ninth to finish off the contest. SDSU added a pair of runs in the sixth and one in the eighth to put the game away.
Seven players scored at least once in the game and five accounted for an RBI each. After committing four errors in the opener, the defense settled down and had no miscues in the victory.
San Diego State concludes its weekend with a game against Kansas State on Sunday, March 1, at 11:00 a.m. at Tony Gwynn stadium.