March 2, 2010
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - San Diego State took a quick lead in its game against UC Riverside Tuesday night, but the Highlanders stormed back with a nine-run third inning as they defeated SDSU, 10-4, at the Riverside Sports Complex. The victory exacted a measure of revenge for the Highlanders who were upended, 14-1, by the Aztecs in San Diego a week ago.
With the win, UCR improves to 5-2 on the season while the Aztecs saw their record fall to 3-6.
The contest started well enough for the visitors as sophomore outfielder Brandon Meredith connected for his first home run of the season in the opening frame to give San Diego State an early 1-0 lead.
The game turned, however, in the third inning when Riverside sent 14 men to the plate and scored nine runs to take command of the game. Although home runs by Brian McConkey and Trevor Hairgrove helped fuel the inning, a pair of Aztec errors in the frame meant that six of the nine runs were unearned.
Four of those third-inning runs came off SDSU starter Craig Rasmussen, who would go just 2.1 innings in the game and suffer the loss to fall to 0-2.
Highlander starter Trevor Frank would be credited with the win as he tossed the opening five innings, allowing all four SDSU runs on eight hits with no walks and seven strikeouts.
San Diego State's other runs on the night came on an RBI triple by Blair Moore in the fourth plus run-scoring singles by Mitch Blackburn and Meredith in the fifth. Meredith finished the game with four hits, two runs and two RBI while teammate Jordan Van Hoosier had a pair of singles and two stolen bases.
Up next for the San Diego State is a contest against No. 23 Kentucky on Thursday, March 2, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.