May 2, 2010
SAN DIEGO - The New Mexico baseball team took up where it left off the previous night as its offense put up big numbers in a 20-8 win over San Diego State Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The result allowed the Lobos to improve to 30-15 overall and 12-5 in the Mountain West Conference while SDSU dropped below the .500 mark at 22-23 (7-8 MWC).
UNM touched up five Aztec pitchers for at least two run apiece during the contest beginning with six against Aztec freshman starter Corey Black in the second inning. Black retired the first two batters in the frame before giving up a walk, three singles, a double and a home run. The inning was capped off by Lobo catcher Rafael Neda's two-run blast, his ninth of the season. SDSU was unable to recover from that offensive outburst and Black would take the loss to fall to 1-1 on the year.
San Diego State tried to get back into the contest by scoring three times in its half of the third to cut the deficit to 6-3. A two-run single by Brandon Meredith and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Chris Wilson accounted for those runs.
But the visitors would then go on to score at least twice in each of the final six frames to win going away. Lobo first baseman Justin Howard finished with five hits including four doubles while Neda would end the day with four hits (including a second home run in the seventh) and six RBI.
UNM left Kenny Toves, who went the first six innings, allowed five runs on five hits with five walks and five strikeouts. His team's offensive prowess, however, allowed him to pick up the win and move his record to 4-1.
The Aztecs, meanwhile, could not match the Lobos' offense on the day. They did get as two-run homer from Cory Vaughn in the fifth that cut the deficit to 11-5 at the time. They also picked up a single marker in the seventh on an RBI single by Ryan O'Sullivan and got a pair of consolation runs in the final inning when Jordan Van Hoosier's triple was followed by a Brandon Meredith's home run over the right field fence.
Meredith was SDSU's offensive star as he went 4-for-4 with a walk, homer, three runs scored and four RBI. Vaughn and Van Hoosier had two hits piece with the former scoring twice and the latter driving in a pair. Mitch Blackburn was held hitless in five plate appearances and saw the end of his 23-game hitting streak, the fourth-longest in Aztec history.
Up next for San Diego State is a three-game league series against Air Force that gets underway on Friday, May 7, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.