May 7, 2013
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - San Diego State used some clutch hitting and solid relief pitching to defeat UC Riverside, 6-2, Tuesday evening at the Riverside Sports Complex. With the victory SDSU evened its season ledger at 24-24 with six home games remaining before the Mountain West Tournament later this month. It also meant the Aztec captured the season series against UCR by winning for the second time in the three meetings between the teams in 2013.
Riverside (10-26) got on the board in its first at bat when Devyn Bolasky walked to lead off the first, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches by Aztec starter Tyler Sapp, and scored on a double to right center by Clayton Prestridge.
SDSU drew even in the top of the third on a one-out double by Justin Gheorghe, who went to third on Evan Potter's ground out. Greg Allen then plated Gheorghe with a bad-hop single to third to even the score at 1-1.
The Aztecs took the lead in the fourth when Taylor France's double to right center scored Jake Romanski and Brad Haynal, who had both singled ahead of him, to make it a 3-1 contest.
The Highlanders closed to within 3-2 by adding a run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Aztecs answered back with singles runs in each of the next three innings to build their advantage to 6-2. Those three runs came courtesy of RBI singles by John Spirk, Tim Zier and Evan Potter,
Both teams used five pitchers on the night with SDSU freshman Collin Orellana (1-0) recording his first collegiate victory. The lefty from Vista, Calif. (San Marcos HS) tossed 2.1 scoreless innings surrendering three hits while striking out five.
Riverside left-hander Kevin Sprague, making his first start of the season, allowed three runs on five hits over the first four frames and took the loss to even his record at 1-1.
Potter (RBI, run scored) and Romanski (two runs scored) finished with a single and double each with the latter reaching base two more time on a pair of walks
San Diego State will now begin a string of six straight home contests to wind up the regular season as it hosts Air Force for a three-game series this weekend. The first contest between the Aztecs and Falcons is set for Friday, May 10, at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.