April 12, 2013
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State, behind a complete-game pitching performance from sophomore Michael Cederoth, defeated Air Force, 4-2, in the opening contest of their three-game series at Falcon Field this weekend.
With the victory the Aztecs improved to 18-16 overall and 9-4 in the Mountain West as they held onto a share of first-place in the league standings with New Mexico, which defeated Fresno State, 11-7, in Albuquerque this afternoon.
SDSU would never trail in the contest as it took the lead for good in the opening frame on a single by Tim Zier and an RBI double by Ryan Muno. The Aztecs doubled their lead two innings later when Evan Potter led off the third with a single, was sacrificed to second by Greg Allen and scored on a double to left center by Zier.
Air Force (9-22, 3-8 MW) cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth, scoring a run without the benefit of a base hit. Falcon first baseman Seth Kline walked, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Tyler Saleck's sacrifice fly to right brought him home to make it a 2-1 game.
San Diego State would add to its lead with single markers in the seventh with Matt Muñoz scoring on a ground out by Allen and in the eighth on an RBI double by Mitch Bluman to go up 4-1.
The Falcons made it interesting in the ninth, scoring once on a single and double, but Cederoth retired the final two batters on infield ground outs to close out the contest.
Cederoth, who last week struck out 14 against Nevada with an effort that earned him conference Pitcher of the Week honors, allowed the Falcons their two runs on just four hits while striking out 11 and walking two over his nine innings of work. With the win he improved to 3-4 on the year and lowered his earned run average to 2.85.
Tim Zier and Jake Romanski finished with two hits apiece for the SDSU with four different Aztecs driving in runs (Allen, Zier, Muno, Bluman) on the afternoon.
San Diego State and Air Force will continue their conference series in Saturday (April 13) with a contest scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. (MT) start in Colorado Springs.