May 1, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State scored four unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh and went on to defeat UNLV, 4-1, Friday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win was the fourth straight for the Aztecs, who improved to 31-16 overall and 17-8 in the Mountain West where they remain in second place, two games behind Nevada.
It also marked SDSU's fourth victory over the Rebels in four games this season after sweeping the three-game series between the teams in Las Vegas in late March.
The Rebels (20-24, 6-16 MW) got on the board early with a run in the second against SDSU starting pitcher Bubba Derby. A double and two-out single gave the visitors a 1-0 lead, but that would be their only run against the junior right-hander.
Derby would go seven innings allowing the lone run on just three hits with five walks and six strikeouts. His strikeout count gave him 101 on the year (in 75.1 innings) and moved him into fourth place on the SDSU career list with 244 over his three seasons. His effort would eventually earn him the win as he improved to 5-3.
UNLV start Kenny Oakley was as good as Derby of his six innings, but would not figure in the decision. After having been limited to just one hit over the opening five frames, the Aztecs finally got to Oakley for a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the contest at 1-1. That marker came on a leadoff triple by Spencer Thornton and a sacrifice fly to center from Alan Trejo.
Rebel reliever Joey Lauria came on to pitch to start the bottom of the seventh and he would be the hard-luck losing pitcher and see his record fall to 3-3.
In that seventh inning, a walk to Chase Calabuig, single by Thornton and walk to Trejo loaded the base with two out. Steven Pallares' grounder to third was then booted by the Rebel third baseman allowing two runs to score. Danny Sheehan followed with an RBI single and the Aztecs found themselves with a 4-1 lead.
Brett Seeburger came in in relief of Derby to start the top of the eighth and retired the first five batters he faced before a single with two out in the ninth brought CJ Saylor in from the bullpen. Saylor surrendered a single before getting the final out a grounder to second to notch his 11th save of the year.
Thornton (triple) and Ty France (double) finished the evening with two hits apiece for the Aztecs as the twosome accounted for four of their team's six hits in the game.
UNLV and San Diego State will resume their three-game weekend series with a contest on Saturday, May 2, set to get underway at 2:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.