Aztecs Drop 7-3 decision To Utes At MWC Tourney

Trey Nielsen drove in all of Utah's runs with two swings of the bat as the Utes defeated San Diego State, 7-3, on day two of the 2011 Mountain West Conference Tournament. The loss sends the Aztecs to the losers' bracket where they will play on Thursday at 11 a.m. against Brigham Young. Utah will move on to play the winner of that contest Thursday at 7 p.m.

Nielsen made his impact felt in the first inning thanks in part to a foul fly ball that was lost in sun. Walks to Michael Beltran and Cody Guymon sandwiched around a double by C.J. Cron loaded the bases and brought Nielson to the plate with two out. SDSU starter Cole Swanson had a chance to get out of the inning when Nielsen's fly wide of the right field line was playable, but it was lost in the afternoon glare by Brandon Meredith and fell harmlessly for a strike. Nielsen then lined the next pitch into the gap in left center field to clear the bases and stake Utah (29-19) to a 3-0 lead.

San Diego State narrowed the deficit to one with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth off Ute starter Rick Anton. Tim Zier singled with one out and scored from first base on Jomel Torres' double into the left field corner. On the play Torres' did not stop and made it to third only because Nielsen was unable to handle the throw to third from left field cleanly and was charged with an error. Chris Wilson's ensuing grounder to third was misplayed by Nielsen as well with Torres scoring on the play.

The game remained scoreless over the next three innings until the Utes and Nielsen broke it open in the bottom of the seventh as they loaded the bases with no outs. That ended Swanson's day on the mound and brought on Stephen Moranda from the bullpen.

The senior right-hander got an infield fly and called third strike and looked like he would help the Aztecs escape unscathed. However, he made his only mistake on a 1-2 pitch to Nielsen, and the Ute third baseman deposited it over the left field fence for a grand slam to make it a 7-2 contest.

San Diego State (22-35) had no answer against Anton, but did score a consolation run against the Ute bullpen in the ninth when Brad Haynal walked, went to third on Ben Vasko's double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Pat Cowell. After Evan Potter drew a two-out walk, Ute closer Tyler Wagner came on and needed only one pitch to get the final out for his 12th save of the season.

Anton, who went eight innings allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits with a pair of walks and seven strikeouts, picked up the win to improve to 9-1. SDSU's Swanson (4-2) was tagged with the loss despite allowing only four hits and tying his career high with eight strikeouts. Six of the runs he surrendered were of the unearned variety, but five walks also created to his woes on the afternoon.

Center fielder Cody Smith continued his hot hitting, following up his three-hit performance of Tuesday with a pair of singles against the Utes. Tim Zier extended his 12-game hitting streak with two hits and also scored once while Ben Vasko's double marked his 13th consecutive game with a base hit.

San Diego State's next game will be on Thursday (May 26) at 11 a.m. against Brigham Young.