March 20, 2012
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Austin Bailey's bases-loaded double in the top of the second scored three runs and helped propel the University of San Diego to a 5-1 victory over San Diego State Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The loss was the fifth straight for SDSU, which fell to 9-12 on the season. USD, meanwhile, improved to 18-6.
San Diego State got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Greg Allen led off with a single to right and advanced to second on a passed ball. He reached third on Jake Romanski's ground out to second and scored on a wild pitch by Torero starter Dylan Covey.
Covey was the first of five USD pitchers who held SDSU to five hits on the night. Zavala was the lone Aztec with more than one as he recorded a pair of singles.
The Toreros answered SDSU's opening run with the three in the top of the second. An error to open the frame meant that all runs were unearned against Aztec starting hurler TJ Kendzora, who would be the hard-luck loser and see his record drop to 0-2.
San Diego State had a golden opportunity to reply quickly as it loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second. But Covey got a shallow fly to left and a ground out to escape the threat before giving way to reliever Max McNabb, who came on to start the bottom of the third and tossed four innings of shutout ball to earn the win and move his record to 2-0.
The Aztecs' only other threats in the contest came in the eighth when they loaded the bases with two out and in the ninth when they began with back-to-back singles. In both cases they were unable to cash in as USD relievers James Pazos and Michael Wagner worked their way out of those jams respectively.
San Diego State will now go back on the road to play a four-game series against Cal Poly that gets underway on Friday (March 23) with a contest at 6:00 p.m. at the Mustangs' Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo.