Feb. 19, 2012
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State made a pair of comebacks, but visiting Washington has the final say as the Huskies defeated the Aztecs, 12-9, Saturday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the win, UW improved to 2-0 on the season while SDSU dropped to 0-2.
For the second straight night, San Diego State grabbed an early lead as it scored in the opening frame when catcher Jake Romanski score from first base on a double to left center field off the bat of Ryan Muno.
Washington responded with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Those came off SDSU starter Travis Pitcher, who was making his Aztec debut. The junior right-hander would depart after three innings of work, allowing the two runs on four this with four walks and three strikeouts. Pitcher would be the first of seven Aztec hurlers on the night and would not be involved in the decision.
The Huskies extended their advantage to 5-1 with three runs in their half of the fifth, but the Aztec then mounted their first comeback of the evening with four in the bottom of the sixth. After loading the bases when Seven Pallares was hit by pitch, Tim Zier doubled and Avondre Bollar was hit by pitch, a ground out to first by Greg Allen brought home the first run. Jomel Torres then smacked a two-run pinch-hit single to right to make it 5-4. Torres advance to second on a balk before Cody Smith's single to center tied the contest at 5-5.
The game was not tied for long as the visitors scored twice in the seventh and once in the eight to take an 8-5 lead. But again the Aztecs rallied to tie the score as they pushed three runs across in the bottom of the eighth.
A single by Spencer Thornton and a walk to Zier were followed by Mat Muñoz being hit by pitch to load the bases with no outs. After a strikeout, Torres lofted a sac fly to center to score Thornton from third. Smith then crushed a double to right center to bring home Zier and Muñoz and tie the score at 8-8.
Washington, however, replied with four times in the top of the ninth to effectively put the game away. Those runs came off Aztec junior right-hander Bryan Crabb (0-1), who was making his first appearance of the season in the role of SDSU's closer. Those runs came on a pair of hits and walk and were capped off by a two-run homer by Huskies designated hitter Branden Berry.
UW reliever Zach Wright would be the beneficiary of his team's ninth-inning outburst as her would pick up the win despite being on the mound when SSU scored its runs in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game.
Joshua Fredendall, who picked up the save in Friday night's contest, came on to pitch in the bottom of the ninth. Despite giving up a run on back-to-back doubles to Ryan Muno and Brad Haynel to open the frame. Fredendall retired the next three Aztec to pick up his second save of the season.
SDSU's Cody Smith ended the night with three hits and three RBI while teammates Jake Romanski and Ryan Muno recorded two hits apiece.
San Diego State and Washington will conclude their season-opening weekend series with a contest on Sunday (Feb. 19) at 1:0 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.