May 16, 2014
FRESNO, Calif. - San Diego State's ninth-inning rally came up just short as it dropped a 4-3 decision at Fresno State Friday evening. The loss ended a short three-game winning streak for SDSU, which saw its record fall to 36-18 overall and 16-13 in the Mountain West.
Fresno State opened the game with a run in the bottom of the first and added two more in the third as it jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Aztec sophomore right-hander Mark Seyler was the victim of those two rallies as he would go 6.1 innings allowing those three runs on nine hits with a walk and six strikeouts. With the loss his record fell to 8-5.
Bulldog starter Tim Borst, on the other hand, held SDSU to just two this over his six innings of work as he would go on to claim the victory and even his season record at 4-4.
Both of SDSU's hits against Borst came in the fifth inning when it scored a run to cut the deficit to 3-1. Seby Zavala's leadoff single was followed two outs later by a double to left center field off the bat of freshman Tyler Adkison that brought Zavala all the way around to score.
Fresno State added what would prove to be the deciding run in the bottom of the eighth when Trent Woodward hit a solo home run to right field off Aztec reliever TJ Kendzora. It was the only hit allowed by the SDSU senior, who went the final 1.2 innings in relief of Seyler.
San Diego State made it interesting in the top of the ninth as Steve Pallares walked and Adkison singled before Greg Allen launched a triple to left center with two out that scored both runners to make it 4-3. However, Bulldog pitcher Derick Velasquez induced a ground out to shortstop by Tim Zier for the final out of the contest as he claimed his second save of the year.
Adkison was the lone Aztec to collect more than one hit on the night as his single and double accounted for two of SDSU's five hits in the contest.
SDSU and Fresno State will pay the rubber game of their regular-season ending series on Saturday, May 17, at 2:05 p.m. in Fresno. With a win the Aztecs will capture sole possession of third place in the final Mountain West standings and claim the No. 3 seed for next week's conference tournament. They could also claimed the third sport with a loss if Nevada loses its game at UNLV Saturday afternoon.