April 3, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Seby Zavala's double in the bottom of the 10th drove home Spencer Thornton from first base with the winning run as San Diego State defeated New Mexico, 4-3, Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The victory improved the Aztecs to 23-8 overall and allowed them to keep pace with Nevada atop the Mountain West standings at 11-3.
The Aztecs took a 2-0 lead in the contest courtesy of RBI singles by Ty France in the bottom of the first and Ryan Muno in the bottom of the fifth.
SDSU starting pitcher Mark Seyler, meanwhile, was keeping the Lobo offense in check as he did not surrender a hit over the first five innings. UNM (16-12, 8-6 MW), however, did string three hits together in its half of the sixth to cut the Aztec lead to 2-1.
In the next inning, the Lobos used a walk, base hit and two-RBI triple by Danny Collier to take a 3-2 lead and chase Seyler from the game. The junior right-hander would not be involved in the decision after tossing 6.2 innings allowing the three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
San Diego State would then manufacture a run in its half of the eighth inning off UNM reliever Hayden Schilling. Andrew Brown led off the frame with a walk, was sacrificed to second and moved to third on a fly out to right. Schilling then uncorked a wild pitch allowing Brown to score and tie the game at 3-3.
With Seyler out of the game, the Aztec bullpen was stellar in stifling the Lobos over the final three innings. Brian Heldman retired the six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth while Brett Seeburger retired the Lobos in order in the top of the 10th.
In the bottom of the 10th, Muno opened the inning with a single through the left side. He was then forced at second on Spencer Thornton's sacrifice bunt attempt. With Thornton on the move from first base on a 3-2 pitch to Zavala, the Aztec catcher laced a double to left center. Thornton raced around to score the winning run when the UNM catcher was unable to handle the throw to the plate.
That run made a winner of Seeburger who improved to 1-0 on the season.
Muno ended the evening with three hits and an RBI while Zavala and France both registered two hits and an RBI.
San Diego State and New Mexico will play the rubber game of their three-game series on Saturday (April 4) at 1:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.