March 23, 2012
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - Chris Wilson hit a pair of three-run homers and Ryan Muno added a solo shot to lead San Diego State to a 10-4 victory over Cal Poly in game one of a doubleheader at Baggett Stadium Friday afternoon. The Mustangs, however, got even in game two as they came from four runs down in the final inning to claim a 6-5 win over the Aztecs.
In the opening inning of SDU's win, Tim Zier and Cody Smith were hit by pitch before Wilson lofted a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to stake the Aztecs to a quick 3-0 lead.
SDSU starting pitcher Ethan Miller shut out the Mustangs over the first four innings and saw his teammates add a run in the top of the fifth to make it a 4-0 contest. A double by Smith, single by Seby Zavala and a sacrifice fly by Wilson accounted for the run.
Miller ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth, however, as Cal Poly (13-8) scored four times on four hits and a walk to tie the contest. That ended Miller's day and brought senior Mike Hachadorian in from the bullpen.
After a scoreless sixth, San Diego State (10-12) regained the lead in the top of the seventh when Ryan Muno homered with two outs off Mustang reliever Reed Reilly. The Aztecs would get to Reilly for five more runs in the next inning to take control of the contest.
SDSU's eighth inning rally came on three hits, a walk, hit batter and an error. The big blow in the inning was Wilson's second homer of the day with two men on that made it a 10-4 contest.
Hachadorian was the beneficiary of SDSU's late offensive outburst as he picked up the win to improve to 3-1 on the season. Justin Hepner, who tossed the final 2.2 innings, picked up his third save while Cal Poly's Reilly (2-1) took the loss.
Ryan Muno finished the contest with three hits for SDSU while Cody Smith had a pair of hits, two walks and scored three times.
In the second game, each team had a chance to get on the board early. In the bottom of the first, the Mustangs had runners at second and third with no outs, but failed to capitalize as Aztec starter Michael Cederoth got a pop-up to second, strikeout and fly ball to left to escape the threat.
In the top of the second, Chris Wilson led off with a triple, but Cal Poly pitcher Joey Wagman got a pop up to short before Wilson was cut down at the plate on a grounder to third by the Jake Romanski.
San Diego struck first with a run in the fourth as Wilson singled, advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Spencer Thornton and scored Romanski's grounder to second.
Cal Poly tied the game at 1-1 in its half of the fifth when Chris Hoo tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Denver Chavez.
San Diego State went ahead in the top of the eighth with a pair of runs on RBI singles by Tim Zier and Spencer Thornton. The Aztecs added what looked to be a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth on another RBI single by Zier and one from Chris Wilson.
Aztec starting pitcher Michael Cederoth shut the Mustangs down over the first eight innings, allowing just a run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts. With the freshman right-hander having made his longest outing of the season, the Aztecs opted to go to the bullpen to begin the bottom of the ninth.
Junior Bryan Crabb came on and immediately loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk before giving way to Justin Hepner, who had thrown two-plus innings in the earlier contest. A past ball scored the first run of the inning and back-to-back walks made it a 5-3 contest. A single moved all runners up a base and made it a one-run game. Freshman Mike Robards was then called in from the bullpen and after getting an out on a fly ball to short right field, the lefty gave up a two-run double to left that scored the tying and winning runs.
That rally made a loser of Hepner, whose record dropped to 1-1. Cal Poly reliever Danny Zandona, who had come on in the top of the ninth, got the win to improve to 1-1.
Wilson finished the doubleheader with six hits including a triple, two home runs and eight RBI while teammate Greg Allen recorded five hits with a double and three runs scored.
San Diego State and Cal Poly will finish out their four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday (March 24) with the first contest scheduled to get underway at 1:00 p.m.