May 14, 2009
OGDEN, Utah - San Diego State recorded double digits in hits and runs for the third straight game as it defeated Utah, 11-2, in a contest played at Lindquist field in Ogden, Utah, Thursday night. The offensive production complemented the pitching performance of Aztec ace Stephen Strasburg, who turned in a solid outing after falling behind early in the contest.
The victory was the sixth straight for SDSU as it matched its longest winning streak of the season while improving to 36-18 overall and 14-8 in the Mountain West Conference. The Utes, meanwhile, saw their record fall to 20-27 (7-15 MWC).
Utah, the only team to defeat Strasburg twice during his collegiate career, got off to a positive start as it scored a pair of runs in the first inning to take a quick 2-0 lead. A leadoff walk to Corey Shimada was followed one out later by a triple down the right field line by Ute freshman D.J. Cron. It was the first of three hits against the Aztec junior right-hander for Cron, who would score on a ground out by Devin Walker to give his team the early advantage.
San Diego State slowly worked itself back into the game, scoring a run in the third on a walk to Pat Colwell and RBI double by Jomel Torres. The Aztecs made it 2-2 in the next inning as Cory Vaughn and Mitch Blackburn singled and advanced a base on Easton Gust's sacrifice bunt before Vaughn came home on a grounder to second by Brandon Decker.
SDSU went ahead for the first time in the fifth as a two-run homer to left center field by Erik Castro gave the visitors a lead they would not relinquish. That blast came off Utah starter Brian Budrow, who would take the loss to see his record drop to 4-5.
The Aztecs made it 6-2 in the top of the seventh on RBI by Brandon Meredith and Vaughn before sending 10 men to the plate and scoring five times in the eighth. That rally in the eighth included consecutive RBI singles by Torres, Meredith, Castro and Vaughn with the latter driving in a pair.
After Utah's first inning offensive outburst, Strasburg was solid on the mound over the next six frames although he had to work out of jams on two occasions. In the third, with the scored tied at 2-2, Cron led off with a double and went to third on a wild pitch with no outs. Strasburg then struck out the next two batters and got a fly out to right to erase the threat.
In the sixth with San Diego State ahead 4-2, the Utes put runners on second and third with one out before the Aztec junior right-hander got a fly ball to short left and a fly out to center to maintain the two-run lead. Strasburg finished his seven innings of work two runs allowed on six six hits while striking out 10 and walking one as he improved to 12-0.
Kegan Sharp completed the final two innings on the mound for San Diego State, retiring six of the seven batters he faced and notching a pair of strikeouts.
Eight of SDSU's starters had at least one hit on the evening led by three apiece from Torres (double, two runs, two RBI) and Vaughn (run, three RBI). Castro (run, three RBI) tallied two hits including the home run while teammates Pat Colwell (two runs) and Mitch Blackburn also had a pair of singles.
San Diego State and Utah continue their three-game series on Friday, May 15, with a game slated for a 6:00 p.m. (MT) start in Ogden.