April 3, 2012
SAN DIEGO - Cal State Fullerton took advantage of several Aztec miscues to score some early runs and went on to claim a 7-1 victory over San Diego state Tuesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The loss ended a four-game win streak for SDSU which saw its record fall to 14-16. The 14th-ranked Titans, meanwhile, improved to 18-10.
Fullerton opened the game with a run in the first off San Diego State pitcher Phillip Walby, who was making just his second start of the season. A pair of singles and a fielder's choice gave the visitors a quick 1-0 lead. The Titans added two more in the top of the second thanks to a pair of Aztec miscues that made both of those runs unearned.
San Diego State narrowed the lead to 3-1 with a run in the bottom of the third. Evan Potter reached base on a two-out error, stole second and scored on Time Zier's double down the left field line. But that would be the extent of the scoring for the Aztecs, who were unable to cash in on a couple of late opportunities.
Walby was again let down by his defense in the fifth inning as two more errors and a single allowed Cal State Fullerton to put another unearned run on the board and stretch its advantage to 4-1. That would mark the end of Walby's night as he would go five full innings allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. He would be tagged with the loss to fall to 0-1 on the year.
The Titans would add three runs to their total over the final two innings to complete the scoring. Fullerton starter Koby Gauna, who gave up a run on two hits with a walk and four strike outs in his five innings of work, would be credited with the win to improve to 3-2.
San Diego State recorded five of its seven hits in the contest over the last three frames, but was unable to add to its run total. The Aztec got three hits in the seventh, but had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the inning. In the eighth, Tim Zier singled and reached third on a pair of wild pitches with two out, but was stranded there. And in the ninth SDSU put two men on via a walk to Tanner Reibenspies and single by Jake Romanski, but came up empty once again.
Zier (double, single) and Romanski (two singles) accounted for four of San Diego State's hits on the night.
The Aztecs will now travel to Las Vegas for a three-game Mountain West series against UNLV that will get underway on Thursday, April 5, with a game scheduled for a 6:05 p.m. start at the Rebels' Earl E. Wilson Stadium.