May 12, 2011
SAN DIEGO - After falling behind by a run in the top of the fourth, San Diego State scored nine times in the bottom of the inning and went on to a 14-6 win over Brigham Young Thursday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win improved the Aztecs to 18-32 overall and 8-11 in Mountain West Conference play as they leapfrogged the Cougars into fifth place in the league standings.
SDSU opened the scoring with a marker in the second as two-out singles by Tm Zier and Dillon Bryant were followed by a balk by BYU starter Chris Capper that allowed Zier to score and give the home side a 1-0 lead. Zier's hit was the first of his three on the night as he would eventually score three times as well.
Aztec sophomore right-hander Corey Black was stellar over the first three-plus innings on the mound as he retired the first 10 men he faced including seven via the strikeout. In the fourth, however, he gave up a single to Dane Nielsen that preceded a two-run homer by Jaycob Brugman to put the visitors up 2-1.
The Cougars lead was a brief one though as the Aztecs pushed nine runs across in their half of the inning courtesy of six hits, three walks and a pair of BYU errors. Six of those runs came with two outs including three on a bases-loaded double to left center by Ben Vasko, who had singled to begin the rally and would score twice. SDSU also got RBIs from Evan Potter, Cody Smith, Jomel Torres and Zier in the inning. Six of the runs were charged to Capper, who took the loss to fall to 3-4.
Brigham Young (25-23; 7-10 MWC) scored twice in the top of the fifth only to see those runs negated by a two-run homer by Torres in the bottom of the frame. It was the second homer in two games and third of the season for the Aztec first baseman.
Black, meanwhile, pitched into the fifth, but the effects of a recent illness caused him to be removed from the contest at that point in favor of Ryan Wynveen. One inning later, Wynveen put two men on with walks and brought Craig Rasmussen in from the bullpen.
Although one of the two runners would score, Rasmussen worked his way out of the inning aided by a pair of pickoffs at first base. It marked his eighth and ninth of the season as he improved on his Aztec school record in that category. The senior lefty would go three innings allowing no runs on three hits with three strikeouts while picking up his second win of the season.
Eight of SDSU's nine starters had at lead one hit in the contest led by Tim Zier's' three. Cody Smith, Jomel Torres, Ben Vasko, Evan Potter and Dillon Bryant had two apiece with Torres driving in three runs and Potter a pair.
Brigham Young and San Diego State will continue their three-game MWC series with a contest on Friday (May 13) at 6:00 p.m.