March 30, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Three Brigham Young pitchers limited San Diego State to four hits as the Cougars shut out the Aztecs, 4-0, Monday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The loss ended a three-game winning streak for SDSU, which saw its record fall to 22-7. BYU, meanwhile, ended a four-game losing streak as it improved to 12-16 on the year.
Aztec sophomore right-hander Cody Thompson turned in another solid pitching effort, allowing a run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts over his 6.1 innings of work. The Cougars' run came in the top of the fourth when Tanner Chauncey drew a walk and came home on Dillon Robinson's RBI double that just eluded the outstretched glove of Aztec center fielder Steven Pallares.
That run would cause Thompson (1-2) to be saddled with the loss as the Aztec offense proved ineffective against BYU pitching.
Cougar right-hander Michael Rucker, making his first start of the season, would go seven innings scattering three hits and surrendering three walks while striking out four. SDSU had a runner on base in every inning, but was unable to cash in on its opportunities.
The Aztecs best chance to score came in the bottom of the seventh against Rucker when Spencer Thornton led off the inning with a triple down the right field line. After a ground out to second with a drawn in infield, SDSU tried a suicide squeeze, but when the bunt was missed Thornton was easily tagged out by the catcher to erase the scoring threat.
Rucker would depart after his seven innings of work, but would be credited with the win to up his season record to 3-1.
Pallares ended the afternoon with a single, double and walk in four trips to the plate as he accounted for half of SDSU's hits in the contest.
Up next for San Diego state is an important three-game Mountain West series against New Mexico at home later this week. That set gets underway on Thursday, April 2, with a contest set to get underway at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.