April 26, 2013
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Fresno State scored five runs in the top of the eighth to break open a 2-1 contest and went on to defeat San Diego State, 7-5, Friday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs, whose attempted comeback from the six-run deficit fell short, saw their record drop to 20-21 overall and 10-9 ion the Mountain West.
The Bulldogs never trailed in the contest after taking the lead in the opening inning on a single, sacrifice bunt, balk and sac fly off SDSU starter Michael Cederoth (3-5). The sophomore right-hander would go 7.1 innings allowing FSU's first four runs on five hits with three walks and six strikeouts. Included among those runs was a solo home run by Jordan Brink in the top of the fourth that gave the visitors a 2-0 lead.
San Diego State cut the Bulldogs' advantage in half in its half of the seventh when Greg Allen scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of teammate Ryan Muno to make it a 2-1 game.
But Fresno State responded in the next frame, scoring five times on four hits, a walk and an Aztec error to take a six-run lead at 7-1. The big blows in the innings were a two-out triple by Brink and double by Kevin Viers off Aztec reliever Ethan Miller that accounted for the final three runs in the inning.
San Diego State then got four hits and took advantage of two walks and a hit better to plate four runs in the bottom of the eighth with Matt Muñoz and Muno both recording two-run singles. The rally ended the night for Fresno starting pitcher Blake Quinn, who had kept the SDSU offense in check up until that point. Quinn would, however, eventually be credited with the victory to improve to 3-1 on the year.
Trailing by two, SDSU loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out on walks to Ty France and Allen sandwiched around a single by Danny Sheehan. But the comeback fell short when Bulldogs reliever Tim Borst struck out the final two hitters to preserved the win and notch his second saved of the year.
Allen finished the night with three hits and a run scored while Muno had three of his team's five RBI. Muñoz accounted for the other two RBI while contributing a pair of singles.
San Diego State and Fresno State will continue their weekend series on Saturday (April 27) with a contest scheduled to get underway at 2:00 p.m.