March 26, 2014
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Seby Zavala's RBI single in the bottom of the eighth broke a 3-3 deadlock and propelled San Diego State to a 4-3 victory over visiting Santa Clara Wednesday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the win the Aztecs improved to 19-6 as they are now off to the program's best start to a season since 1984.
San Diego State broke out of the gate quickly, scoring twice in the bottom of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. A single by Greg Allen and walk to Tim Zier turned into runs with the help of an RBI single by Ty France and a sacrifice fly by Zavala.
Freshman left-hander Aaron Cross was on the mound for SDSU making his first collegiate start. He went the opening three innings allowing a hit and a walk while striking out three.
Fellow frosh left Marcus Reyes came on to start the fourth, but was quickly in a jam after allowing a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases with one out. That brought redshirt freshman Cody Thompson in from the bullpen, but he also struggled in the inning.
A fielder's choice provided the second out of the frame, but drove in the first run for the visitors. An ensuing single tied the contest before Thompson uncorked a wild pitch that gave the Broncos (9-15) a 3-2 lead. The Aztec reliever re-loaded the bases with a hit batter and walk, but escaped further damage with an infield ground out.
As much as Thompson was unsteady in that inning, he was stellar over the next four frames as he retired the side in order from the fifth through the eighth innings to keep his team within striking distance.
SDSU would tie the game in the bottom of the sixth with some help from the Broncos. Greg Allen began the inning by drawing a walk after which he promptly stole second. Tim Zier then walked and when Allen advanced to third on a wild pitch it put runners at first and third with no outs.
Zier was then caught off first on a pickoff move and broke for second. When the first baseman's throw to second was in the dirt, Zier was safe and it allowed Allen to race home with the tying run to knot the score at 3-3.
In the bottom of the eighth Allen again led off with a base on balls and this time was sacrificed to second by Zier. An intentional walk to France was followed by Allen stealing third to set the stage for Zavala's game-winning hit.
Aztec closer Michael Cederoth then came on to start the top of the ninth, and after surrendering a leadoff single retired the next three batters to nail down the victory and record his ninth save of the season. Thompson would be credited with the win as he improved to 3-0 while Santa Clara's Jason Seever, who had walked Allen to begin the eighth inning before being lifted, was charged with the loss to fall to 1-2.
Ty France (two singles) along with Steven Pallares (single, double) finished the day with two hits apiece as they accounted for four of their team's six hits. In addition, Greg Allen scored three of SDSU's four runs and had a single and two walks in four plate appearances.
San Diego State will now resume Mountain West Conference play when it hosts a three-game series vs. Fresno State this weekend. That set begins with a contest on Friday, March 28, scheduled to get underway at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.