April 14, 2009
SAN DIEGO - UCLA grabbed its first lead of the night by scoring five times in the top of the eighth to break open a tight game as it defeated San Diego State, 7-3, Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the victory in the non-conference contest, the Bruins improved to 14-19 on the year while the Aztecs saw their record fall to 25-13. The game was almost a reverse replay of the meeting between the teams in Los Angeles earlier this season when SDSU won with a late rally.
San Diego opened the scoring in its first at bat as second baseman Mitch Blackburn hit a solo home run, his second of the season, to stake his side to a quick 1-0 advantage.
After the Bruins knotted the score in the second off Aztec starter Nate Solow, it was Cory Vaughn's turn to go deep as he notched his seventh homer of the year over the fence in center field. UCLA, however, responded with a run in the fourth, this time against reliever Andrew Leary, to make it a 2-2 contest.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when Brandon Meredith doubled to right field off UCLA starter Garett Claypool. That hit spelled the end of Claypool's evening as he gave way to Matt Grace, who was immediately greeted by an RBI single up the middle from Erik Castro to put SDSU on top 3-2.
With senior James McLaughlin on the mound for the Aztecs in the UCLA eighth, a single by Chris Amezquita, an SDSU fielding error, and an infield single by Justin Uribe loaded the bases with one out. Eddie Murray then lined a 1-2 pitch to left field for a double to bring home the tying and go-ahead runs. A subsequent two-run double by Blair Dunlap and an RBI infield single later in the inning completed the five-run outburst.
Four of the runs in that frame were unearned, but it was enough to make a loser of McLaughlin, who lost for the first time this season and saw his record fall to 2-1. UCLA's Grace was the beneficiary of his team's rally as he won to improve to 3-2. Bruin lefty Gavin Brooks came on in the ninth to close out the contest as he recorded his fourth save.
The Aztecs managed only seven hits off the three Bruin pitchers with Castro (two singles) the only SDSU hitter with more than one.
San Diego State now returns to Mountain West Conference play as it visits New Mexico for a three-game series this weekend beginning Friday, April 17, at 6:00 p.m. (MT) at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque.