May 6, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Utah made the most of its opportunities and came out on top in a pitchers' duel as it shut out San Diego State, 3-0, Friday afternoon at Spring Mobile Park in Salt Lake City. The Aztec offense was unable to solve a pair of Ute pitchers as SDSU wasted a complete-game effort by sophomore right-hander Corey Black in the process.
The win allowed Utah to improve to 24-15 overall (14-4 Mountain West Conference) and keep pace with first-place TCU in the conference standings. San Diego State, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 15-31 (6-10 MWC) as it dropped into sixth place in the league table.
Despite allowing five hits and three walks over the first seven innings, Ute starter Rick Anton did enough to keep SDSU at bay as he would pick up the win to improve to 7-1.
In the second inning, Jomel Torres led off with a single and was sacrificed to second before being stranded there. In the third, two-out singles by Tim Zier and Pat Colwell were wasted as they were left on base as well. In the fifth, the Aztecs got a single by Cody Smith and a walk to Zier with one out, but failed to cash in.
Over the final four frames, Anton along with reliever Tyler Wager (who came on in the eighth) held SDSU hitless with their only base runner coming on a walk to Zier in the eighth inning. Wagner, who retired the six batters he faced including three via strikeout, notched his 10th save of the season.
Utah took the lead in the bottom of the fourth as it manufactured a run to go up 1-0. With one out, Shaun Cooper singled and went to second on a walk to Austin Shackelford. A fielder's choice erased Shackelford at second, but Black (3-5) uncorked a wild pitch to bring Cooper home.
Cooper accounted for the home side's other runs with a two-run homer to center in the bottom of the eighth that followed a single by Michael Beltran. Black's final line over eight innings included the three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
No Aztec recorded more than one hit in the contest although Tim Zier reached base three times on a single and a pair of walks.
San Diego State and Utah will continue their three-game series on Saturday (May 7) with a contest scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. (MT) start in Salt Lake City.