March 3, 2011
SAN DIEGO - In a game that featured some excellent pitching on both sides, San Diego State came up short as it fell to third-ranked Oklahoma, 4-0, Thursday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The contest was SDSU's first during the annual USD Tournament that will see them face three top 25 teams over a four-day span.
The Sooners (11-0) entered the contest averaging over 12 runs per game with a team batting average of .407 over their first 10 games of the season. Enter Aztec senior right-hander Steven Moranda, who kept the OU hitters off balance much of the evening with a mixture of breaking balls and change-ups.
Moranda faced the minimum over the first three frames, allowing only one hit that was quickly erased on a caught stealing. Oklahoma mounted its first threat in the top of the fourth, manufacturing a run when Max White was hit by a pitch, went to second on a sac bunt and eventually scored on singles by Garrett Buechele and Cameron Seitzer.
In the next frame, the Sooners loaded the bases with no outs on an error, walk and a bunt single. Moranda then pitched his way out of the jam by getting a pair of infield pop-ups before striking out Buechele, who entered the contest with a .525 batting average.
On the other side, OU's Michael Rocha kept the SDSU offense at bay the entire night, limiting it to just five hits while walking only one and striking out five. His complete-game effort improved his record to 3-0 on the season as he lowered his earned run average to 0.78.
The Aztecs' (1-7) best chance to score came in the third inning when freshman Brad Haynal led off with a double to right center and advanced to third on a sac bunt by Cody Smith. Haynal was then caught straying too far off the base and he was picked off by Sooner catcher Tyler Ogle to end the threat.
Oklahoma eventually caught up to Moranda in the eighth inning, scoring a pair of runs on hits by Seitzer and Ogle that preceded a triple by Cody Reine to make it a 3-0 contest. That was the end of the evening for Moranda, who pitched effectively but was saddled with the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season.
The visitors added an unearned run in the ninth that came courtesy of a pair of SDSU errors on the same play to make the final score 4-0. SDSU's rally attempt in the bottom of the frame fell short as it put men on first and second with one out before a pickoff and ground out ended the contest.
Junior first baseman Jomel Torres accounted for two of SDSU's four hits on the night as he reached base twice for the second game in a row.
Up next for the Aztecs is a contest against 14th-ranked California set for Friday evening (March 4) at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn stadium.