May 8, 2010
SAN DIEGO - In a game similar to Friday night's contest, San Diego State scored eight early runs and saw Air Force fight back to within two before pulling away for a 21-6 victory over the Falcons Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs pounded out 18 hits in the contest and also utilized six walks and three hit batters to equal their season high in runs.
For the second straight day, the Falcons got on the board in their first at bat, taking a 1-0 lead on a single by Blair Roberts, a sacrifice bunt by K.J. Randhawa and two wild pitches from SDSU starter Brian Crabb.
SDSU answered back with three runs in the bottom of the frame with the first two coming on a two-run triple to center field by catcher Chris Wilson. On the play, Wilson suffered an injury sliding into third and had to leave the game. His replacement, Matt Parker, then scored on a single by Blair Moore.
After the visitors closed the gap to 3-2 with a run in the second, San Diego State put up five runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning, a rally that was capped off by Cory Vaughn's three-run homer, his first of two on the afternoon.
The Aztecs' 8-2 advantage was soon in jeopardy, however, as the Falcons came back with four runs in the top of the fourth, knocking Crabb out of the game in the process. The Aztec freshman went just 3.1 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on five hits and four walks.
Ahead by just two runs at 8-6, San Diego State scored four times in its half of the fifth to send Falcon starting pitcher Alex Truesdale to the bench. The senior right-hander finished with 12 runs allowed on 12 hits, three walks and a pair of strikeouts as he took the loss to fall to 2-6.
SDSU then put the game away by scoring seven unearned runs in the sixth off Air Force reliever Ben Bertelson. Brandon Decker's two-out grounder to shortstop was misplayed and that opened the flood gates for the home side to score seven times on four hits, two walks, two errors and a hit batter. The Aztecs' final three runs of the inning came on Vaughn's second three-run dinger of the contest.
San Diego State freshman reliever Kyle Shaver, who tossed 2.1 innings of shutout ball over the middle of the game, was credited with the win to improve to 2-0.
All nine SDSU starters accounted for at least one hit as Vaughn led the way with a single, double, two home runs and a season-high seven runs batted in. Brandon Meredith, Mitch Blackburn and Blair Moore contributed three hits apiece.
Meredith's day included a pair of doubles, four runs scored and four RBI while Blackburn scored four times and Moore drove in two. Freshman Jomel Torres also connected for his third home run of the year, a two-run shot in the fifth inning.
The Aztecs and Falcons will conclude their series on Sunday with a game scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. 9PT) start at Tony Gwynn Stadium.