March 15, 2011
LOS ANGELES - San Diego Statte put plenty of runners on base, but was unable to convert any into runs as it was shut out by Loyola Marymout, 5-0, Tuesday afternoon at George Page Stadium in Los Angeles. The Aztecs out-hit the Lions, but could not take advanatge of several scoring opportunities as they put at least one man on in every inning but the second and left a total of a dozen on base.
With the win, Loyola Marymount improved to 12-6 while San Diego State saw its record fall to 3-14.
The Lions got to SDSU starer Mike Hachadorian for a pair of runs in the opening inning courtesy of three hits and an SDSU throwing error. Hachadorian (0-1), making his first start of the season, would go three innings giving up the two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out a pair.
The Aztecs, meanwhile, were able to put 10 men on base against Lions left-hander John Lally over the first six frames, but were unabe to come up with the clutch hit when it counted.Seven of those runners were left on base, two were erased by double plays and another was picked off.
Loyola Marymount added single runs to its total in both the fifth and sixth innings. A walk to Alex Guthrie, a sac bunt and a double by Matt Lowenstein brought home a run in the fifth. In the sixth the Lions loaded the bases on a single, error and hit batter, then scored on a walk to Colton Plaia to make it a 4-0 contest.
Lally was removed from the contest after six innings having given up no runs on five hits and three walks with two strikeouts. That effort allowed him to picked up the win to improve to 2-1.
An absence of timely hitting continued to be a theme for the Aztecs even after Lally left the contest. In the top of the seventh SDSU put two more runners on with one out, but were turned aside by reliever Jacob Smigelski. A walk to Chris Wilson in the eighth gave SDSU another runner, but LMU lefty Matt Florer came on with two out and recorded a strikeout to erase the threat.
Florer pitched into the ninth, but a single by Ben Vasko and walk to Jomel Torres borught Jeremy Burrell out of the bullpen with two down and he got the final out to nail down the victory for the home side.
Second baseman Tim Zier was the lone Aztec with more than one hit on the day as he recorded a pair of singles, two walks and a pair of stolen bases. Left fielder Chris Wilson reached base three times with a hit, walk and hit by pitch. Brandon Meredith has SDSU's lone extra base hit, a two-out triple in the second.
San Diego State will open its 2011 Mountain West Conference campaign with a three-game series at home against New Mexico that begins with a contest on Friday, March 18, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.