March 22, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State won for the fourth straight time as it concluded a three-game sweep of Air Force with a 9-2 victory over the Falcons Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
With the win the Aztecs improved to 19-5 overall and 7-2 in the Mountain West as they move into a tie for first place in the conference standings with Nevada. SDSU's 19-5 start is its best since the 1984 campaign when it stood at 21-3 after the first 24 games of the season.
San Diego State got out of the gate quickly with single runs in both the first and second innings. In the first, a two-out double by Seby Zavala drove home Steven Pallares, who had opened the frame with a walk. In the second, Ryan Muno led off with a double, was sacrificed to third by Chase Calabuig and scored on a wild pitch by Air Force starter Jacob DeVries.
The Aztecs then took control of the contest with five runs in third. A two-run double by Zavala, RBI single by Calabuig and a two-run double from Alan Trejo upped SDSU's lead to 7-0.
Air Force (9-13, 5-7 MW), meanwhile, were getting hits, but could not push any runs across against Aztec starting pitcher Marcus Reyes. Six of the seven hits recorded by the Falcons vs. the SDSU left-hander came in the first four innings, but no runner advanced past second base.
Reyes would go seven innings allowing no runs on a total of seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. The junior was making his first weekend start of the season and pitched well enough to earn the win and improve to 3-0 on the year.
SDSU added its final two runs in the bottom of the fifth with the first scoring on a two-out RBI single by Pallares. With Pallares at first and David Hensley at third, Pallares was picked off, but stayed in the rundown long enough for Hensley to cross the plate with the Aztecs' ninth run of the afternoon.
Junior right-hander Dalton Douty came on to pitch in the top of the eighth and retired the three batters he faced including two via the strikeout. The Falcons did score a pair of consolation runs in the ninth against reliever Zack Oakley to end SDSU's shutout bid.
Zavala, who finished with two doubles and three RBI, was one of three Aztecs to record two hits in the contest. Ty France and Chase Calabuig had two singles apiece with each scoring a run and Calabuig adding an RBI.
The Aztecs will be back in action on Tuesday, March 24, when they host No. 9 UCLA for a game scheduled to get underway at 6:00 p.m. (PT) at Tony Gwynn Stadium.