April 4, 2014
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Sophomore right-hander Bubba Derby struck out 15 batters over 8.1 innings and improved to 5-0 on the season as San Diego State defeated Air Force, 5-1, Friday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The victory lifted SDSU's record to 22-8 overall and 8-5 in the Mountain West as it continues its best start to a season since 1992.
Derby set the tone early as he retired the first eight batters he faced including four via the strikeout. The Falcons' first hit came in the top of the fifth, a seeing-eye single through the right side by David Thomas. It was the first of only three hits on the night for the visitors whose only other base runners came on a walk in the third and a wild pitch on a strikeout in the eighth.
The Aztecs opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the third. Greg Allen singled with one out, stole second and advanced to third when the catcher's throw skipped into center field. Later in the inning Ty France came through with a two-out single up the middle to score Allen. Seby Zavala followed that with a home run to left center, his first as an Aztec, to give SDSU a 3-0 lead.
San Diego State added runs in both the fifth and sixth frames to increase its advantage to 5-0. In the fifth Tim Zier led off with a double, went to third on a single by France and scored on Zavala's infield ground out. In the sixth, Steve Pallares tripled to right field and came home on an RBI single by Allen.
The Falcons (6-22, 2-11 MW) picked up a consolation run in the top of the eighth against Derby when Travis Neubeck doubled with one out, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out to shortstop.
When Derby surrendered a one-out single in the top of the ninth it signaled the end of his night with Michael Cederoth entering the contest from the bullpen. The Aztec closer quickly got a strikeout and a fly ball to left to secure the victory.
Ty France finished the evening with three hits and a walk, an RBI and run scored in four plate appearances while Seby Zavala had three RBI including the two-run homer. In addition, Greg Allen had a pair of singles, RBI and run scored.
San Diego State and Air Force will continue their weekend series with a contest on Saturday, Apr. 5, scheduled to get underway at 6:00 p.m.