May 24, 2013
FRESNO, Calif. - San Diego State senior pitcher Ryan Doran scattered seven hits and his offense provided some clutch runs as the Aztecs defeated Fresno State, 4-0, in an elimination game at the 2013 Mountain West Tournament in Fresno. They now move on to face UNLV in another elimination game on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Pete Beiden Field.
Despite getting a man on base in seven of the nine innings, the Bulldogs had only one runner reach as far as third base and just one other make it to second. Doran received defensive help in the form of two double plays along with catcher Jake Romanski throwing out a runner attempting to steal second.
SDSU opened the scoring with a run in the third with the aid of a Fresno State miscue. With two out, singles by Ty France and Brad Haynal plus a walk to Jake Romanski loaded the bases. Evan Potter then hit a grounder to third that the Bulldogs first baseman had to wait for. His throw to first was in time, but the ball was dropped by FSU first baseman Trent Garrison allowing France to score.
The Aztecs doubled their lead with a run in the bottom of the fifth that came courtesy of a Greg Allen single, a sac bunt by Danny Sheehan and an RBI single by Tim Zier.
A pivotal play in the game came in the top of the next inning as the Bulldogs put runners on first and second with one out. Kevin Viers then lofted a deep fly ball to left center that looked to be a possible double. But Allen made a diving catch on a full sprint to rob Viers of a potential extra base hit and two RBI. The runner on second tagged and advanced to third, but Doran stranded him there by getting Aaron Judge to strike out to end the inning.
SDSU upped its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the inning with Allen delivering a two-out two-run double that scored Romanski and Potter from third and first respectively.
Ty France finished the afternoon with three hits and a run scored for the Aztecs while Allen had a pair of hits along with two RBI and a run scored.
As for Doran, who improved to 8-3 with the victory and lowered his team-leading ERA to 2.53, his final line in the shutout included seven hits allowed with no walks and seven strikeouts.