Feb. 27, 2011
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State found itself in an early hole from which it was unable to recover as it dropped a 9-2 decision to the University of San Diego Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the victory, the Toreros evened their record at 3-3 while the Aztecs fell to 1-5.
USD got to Aztec freshman starter TJ Kendzora for a pair of runs in the opening frame as a leadoff triple by Kevin Muno, an RBI single by Zack Kometani and a run-scoring double by Corey LeVier staked the visitors to a 2-0 lead. The Toreros added two more to their total in the third plus three in the fourth as they increased their advantage to 7-0.
USD's final two runs in that scoring string came on a two-out two-run single by Kometani in the fourth. That hit ended Kendzora's afternoon as he would take the loss to fall to 1-1 on the season. The right-hander allowed the seven runs on 10 hits while striking out two over 3.2 innings of work.
Torero starter Calvin Drummond kept the Aztec offense in check until the bottom of the fourth when SDSU scored twice as it attempted to get back into the game. A single by Chris Wilson and a walk to Mitch Bluman were followed by an RBI double by Cody Slader. Tim Zier's single drove in the second run of the inning and despite loading the bases on another pair of walks with two out, SDSU was unable to do any further damage.
From that point forward the Aztecs managed only two hits over the final five innings, singles in the eighth by Slader and the ninth by Brad Haynal. Slader was the only Aztec to record more than one hit on the afternoon as they were limited to six by a trio of USD pitchers.
The Toreros added a pair of unearned runs in the top of the eighth off SDSU's Corey Black, one of six hurlers employed by SDSU during the course of the game.
Drummond (1-0), who went five innings allowing the two runs on five hits with five walks and five strikeouts, went five innings to pick up his first win of the season. Paul Sewald came on in the seventh and tossed the final three innings to record his second save.
San Diego State returns to action Tuesday evening (March 1) when it hosts second-ranked UCLA for a contest scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.