May 19, 2009
FORT WORTH, Texas - Three San Diego State pitchers limited UNLV to three hits led by starter Tyler Lavigne as San Diego State defeated UNLV, 12-1, in its opening contest at the 2009 Mountain West Conference tournament being contested at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. All nine Aztec starters had at least one hit in the contest with seven different players driving in a run.
Lavigne allowed only a run on three hits over 7.2 innings with two of those hits coming in the fourth inning when the Rebels scored their lone run of the contest. By that time the Aztecs had scored a pair of runs off UNLV starter Corey Hale.
In the opening frame, the Rebel hurler issued four bases on balls as San Diego State took a quick 1-0 lead. Two innings later, a walk to Brandon Meredith and a single by Erik Castro set the stage for an RBI grounder by Cory Vaughn that doubled SDSU's advantage.
The two runs allowed by Hale were enough to pin him with the loss as he evened his record at 3-3. Lavigne, meanwhile, would give up just three hits and strike out eight to improve to 7-1 on the year. Relievers Chase Thomas and Andrew Leary allowed no base runners over the final one-and-a-third innings to close out the game.
The Aztecs would add to their slim 2-1 lead in the fifth, scoring a pair of runs on a double by Castro, single by Vaughn, RBI single by Mitch Blackburn and a sacrifice fly by Jomel Torres. They made it 5-1 in the next inning when Brandon Decker and Meredith had back-to-back singles with Decker scoring on a wild pitch.
SDSU put the game away in the bottom of the eighth as it scored seven runs on six hits and pair of walks off four UNLV relievers. After an out to open the inning, the Aztecs put eight consecutive runners on base with three singles, three doubles and two bases on balls.
Castro finished the evening with three hits including a pair of doubles, two runs scored and two RBI. Vaughn (double, two runs, two RBI) along with Matt Parker (run) and Ryan O'Sullivan (double, two RBI) had two hits apiece for the Aztecs as well. In addition, Mitch Blackburn, who had an RBI single, tied an MWC Tournament record when he walked four times during the contest.
With the victory, San Diego State advances in the winners' bracket to face No. 2 seed New Mexico on Wednesday afternoon (May 20) at 3:00 p.m. (CDT).