Feb. 25, 2010
SAN DIEGO - In a battle of former standout All-American closers who have been converted to No. 1 starters at their respective schools, San Diego State's Addison Reed out-dueled University of San Diego's AJ Griffin as the Aztecs defeated the Toreros, 5-2, Thursday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The game was the first of a four-game weekend series between the schools that saw SDSU improve to 2-3 while the Toreros evened their record at 3-3.
USD got on the board first courtesy of a solo home run by Victor Sanchez in the top of the third. SDSU responded in the bottom of the same inning on back-to-back walks to Chris Wilson and Brandon Decker, a sac bunt by Josh Chasse and an RBI single off the bat of Mitch Blackburn.
SDSU's Cory Vaughn gave the Aztecs the lead with a solo home of his own in the bottom of the sixth. It was the Aztec junior center fielder's second long ball in two games.
A leadoff double by Wilson and a bunt single by Decker in the home half of the seventh spelled the end of the night for Griffin (1-1), who finished the evening with eight strikeouts over six innings including the first six batters of the game. The Toreros brought on reliever Chris Jensen, who saw his first pitch taken deep over the left field fence by SDSU right fielder Chasse to extend the Aztec lead to 5-1.
Reed (1-1) retired 10 batters in a row from the fifth through eighth innings, a string that was ended by a two-out double by Steven Chatwood. An error on a grounder by Kalei Hanawahine allowed USD to add an unearned run to its total to make it 5-2 after eight. Reed would retire the side in order in the ninth for the complete-game victory, finishing with 11 strikeouts on the night.
The same two teams meet in the second game of their series on Friday, Feb. 26, at 2:00 p.m. (PT) at USD's Cunningham Stadium.