May 16, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State fell behind early and was unable to mount a full comeback as it dropped a 5-3 decision to St. Mary's Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. With the loss the Aztecs end the regular season with a record of 35-20.
With the contest being played on Senior Day, two of SDSU's three seniors were in the starting lineup including pitcher Mitch Bluman and everyday center fielder Steven Pallares. A third Aztecs senior, Ryan Muno, was unable to play due to injury.
As part of the contest, Pallares was going to play all nine field positions, but came up short. He began at catcher, worked his way around the infield from first to third and made an appearance in left field before defensive requirements necessitated his playing first base over the final three frames.
In the opening inning, St. Mary's used three singles and an error to score a run against Bluman and take a lead it would not relinquish. After surrendering a single to open the top of the second, Bluman was lifted in favor of sophomore lefty Marcus Reyes. The one run that the senior surrendered was enough to cause him to take the loss and fall to 0-1 on the season.
Reyes got out of the second easily, but the Gaels tagged him for three runs in the top of the third courtesy of a double, three singles and two more SDSU miscues. The visitors would add another run in the top of the sixth to go up 5-0.
SDSU was held to just two hits and a walk over the first five frames by St. Mary's starting hurler Corbin Burnes. They finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with three singles, the last one by Ty France driving in SDSU's first run.
France would again figure in the Aztec scoring two innings later when he belted a two-run homer to left field after Tanner Reibenspies had been hit by pitch. An ensuing single by Seby Zavala meant the end of the afternoon for Burnes, who would eventually be credited with the victory to improve to 7-5.
Burnes' replacement, David Dellaserra, came on and retired six SDSU batters in a row over the final two innings to record his first save of the year.
France ended the afternoon with three hits, three RBI and a run scored as he drove in all of the Aztec runs and accounted for three of the team's seven hits in the game.
Up next for San Diego State is a trip to Reno, Nev., for the 2015 Mountain West Tournament that gets underway on Wednesday, May 20. The Aztecs earned a first-round bye by virtue of the second-place finish in the league standings and will open play on Thursday, May 2, at 3:00 p.m. at Peccole Park.