April 14, 2013
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State got a stellar pitching performance from senior Ryan Doran and took advantage of seven Air Force errors as it defeated the Falcons, 11-0, Sunday afternoon in Colorado Springs. With the win, the Aztecs improved to 19-17 overall and 10-5 in the Mountain West as they maintained their hold on second place in the league standings.
The game was scoreless after three innings before SDSU used four hits and a pair of Air Force (10-23, 4-9 MW) miscues to score three times in the top of the fourth. Ryan Muno's RBI single plus a two-out two-run single by Ty France staked the Aztecs to a 3-0 lead.
The turning point in the game may have come in the bottom of that inning as the Falcons got a walk and two singles to load the bases with no out against Doran. The senior right-hander proceeded to strike out the next three Air Force batters to snuff out the threat.
Beginning with those strikeouts, Doran retired 13 batters in a row before giving up a single in the bottom of the eighth. He would eventually leave the contest after 8.1 innings, but not before striking out a career-high nine hitters during his shutout stint.
The Aztecs, meanwhile, added two runs in the fifth on one hit, a walk and two more Falcon errors. They made it 6-0 with a single marker in the sixth before striking for five runs in the eighth to put the game on ice.
In that five-run eighth, SDSU loaded the bases before a walk to Greg Allen brought home the first run of the inning. Muno then delivered a two-run single which was followed by a two-RBI triple to center off the bat of Jake Romanski.
Doran pitched into the ninth, but after giving up back-to-back one-out singles he was relieved by Mike Robards. The sophomore lefty delivered just three pitches before inducing a game-ending double play. With the victory, Doran improved to 6-2 on the season while lowering his team-leading earned run average to 2.54.
Ryan Muno and Ty France had two hits apiece for the Aztecs and finished the afternoon with three and two runs driven in respectively.
Up next for San Diego State is another conference road series as it travels to Las Vegas for a three-game set against UNLV that gets underway on Friday, April 19, at 6:00 p.m. at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.