April 1, 2016
RENO, Nev. - Trenton Brook's RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning drove in the winning run as Nevada defeated San Diego State, 6-5, in the series opener between the squads Friday afternoon at Peccole Park in Reno, Nev.
With the win the Wolf Pack improved to 14-7 overall and 5-4 in the Mountain West. The Aztecs, meanwhile, dropped to 6-18 (2-6 MW) as they lost for the third time in three extra-inning contests this season.
After SDSU had tied the contest at 5-5 with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, junior left-hander Jacob Erickson came on to pitch the 10th frame. A pair of back-to-back hit batters put runners at first and second before Brooks delivered his two-out game-winning hit to center field. That run meant that Erickson would suffer the loss and see his record fall to 2-3.
Nevada's Ty Pennington, who tossed the top of the final innings, was the beneficiary of Brooks' hit as he picked up the victory to up his record to 2-0 on the season.
Early in the contest, Nevada would score and SDSU would provide an immediate answer.
After the Wolf Pack put two on the board in the bottom of the third, the Aztecs came back with two of their own in the top of the fourth. Those runs came on a single by Chase Calabuig, RBI double by David Hensley and a run-scoring single by Spencer Thornton.
After the home side re-took the lead at 3-2 with a run in its half of the fourth, the Aztecs responded in the top of the next frame when Calabuig hit a solo home run to right field to make it a 3-3 contest.
The patter ended there, however, as Nevada added to its total with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 5-3 game. The Aztecs could not respond and went scoreless over the next three innings. But the ninth was a different story as they were able to get to Wolf Pack closer Evan McMahan for a pair of runs to send the game to extra frames.
In that ninth inning, Jordan Verdon led off with a double to left center and was replaced by pinch runner Denz'l Chapman. A ground out by Andrew Brown moved Chapman to third, and he scored on Hunter Stratton's sacrifice fly to center. That left SDSU trailing by a run at 5-4 with two out and nobody on base.
Justin Wylie then stroked a single through the right side and Calabuig was hit by pitch to set the stage for Alan Trejo's RBI single to right to tie the score and force extra innings. But the Aztecs fell just shy of completing their comeback as the Wolf Pack won it in the next frame.
Thornton ended the afternoon with four hits and an RBI while Calabuig tallied three hits including the home run, an RBI and two runs scored.
San Diego State and Nevada will continue their three-game weekend series on Saturday, April 2, when they square off in a contest slated to get underway at 6:00 p.m. (PT) at Peccole Park in Reno.