Feb. 21, 2014
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - In its first-ever meeting on the baseball diamond with West Virginia, San Diego State came up on the short end of a 6-2 score line as it dropped the opener of a three-game series against the Mountaineers Friday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the loss, the Aztecs saw their record drop to 3-2 while WVU evened its season ledger at 2-2.
The visitors opened the scoring in the top of the second against SDSU starter Mike Robards. Singles by Jacob Rice and Shaun Wood put runners at first and third with no outs. RoBards looked set to get out of the inning after getting a pop out to short and a strikeout, but he then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Rice to score the first run of the game.
Other than a leadoff double by Greg Allen in the first, the Aztecs were held in check by WVU starter Harrison Musgrave, the 2013 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year. But they finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth as Ty France delivered a two-out two-run double to score Tim Zier and Seby Zavala who had reached on a walk and double respectively.
SDSU's lead was short-lived, however, as Mountaineer shortstop Taylor Munden led off the top of the next frame with a solo home run to left. After a pair of singles, a sacrifice fly to left by Rain McBroom put West Virginia up for good at 3-2, eventually making a loser of RoBards (1-1).
WVU added a run in the seventh off reliever Justin Hepner courtesy of a double, wild pitch and sac fly to make it a 4-2 contest. They added a pair of unearned insurance runs in the top of the ninth with three singles sandwiched around an SDSU fielding error.
Musgrave went six innings for the Mountaineers allowing two runs on five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts, recording the win to improve to 1-0. Relievers Pascal Paul and Corey Walter set the Aztecs down in order over the final three innings to preserve the win.
San Diego State and West Virginia will play the second contest of their three-game set on Saturday with first pitch set for 6:00 p.m.