April 10, 2016
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - What looked on paper to be a potential high-scoring affair turned into a pitchers' duel Sunday afternoon as San Diego State defeated UNLV, 4-2, to win the rubber game and capture the weekend series from the Rebels. The victory was SDSU's third in its last four outings as it improved to 9-20 overall and 4-8 in the Mountain West.
A look at the teams' stats prior to the contest showed UNLV starter Dean Kremer with a 1-3 record and 6.32 earned run average and San Diego State's Cody Thompson with a 0-5 mark and 7.77 ERA, numbers that did not bode well for a low-scoring affair.
But both hurlers rose to the occasion with Kremer tossing a complete game and Thompson pitching into the ninth with only two of the six runs allowed in the contest being of the earned variety. Their effort made for the quickest game of the season for SDSU at just an hour and 53 minutes.
The visitors (12-19, 5-10 MW) got on the board first with a run in the top of the fourth to take a 1-0 lead. After a two-out single by catcher Andrew Yazdanbakhsh, an Aztec error prolonged the inning before he scored on a single by A.J. VanMeetren.
San Diego State wasted little time in answering as it struck for three in the bottom of the same inning. Back-to-back singles by Chase Calabuig and Alan Trejo opened the inning to put runners at first and second. David Hensley's sacrifice bunt attempt was then thrown away at third by Kremer allowing Calabuig to score to tie the contest.
Trejo would score on a wild pitch before Tyler Adkison's single to right plated Hensley to give the Aztecs a 3-1 advantage.
SDSU added one more an inning later when Andrew Brown's fly ball eluded the dive of Rebel center fielder Max Smith and went for a triple. Hunter Stratton then stroked a single to left center to make it a 4-1 game.
Thompson, meanwhile proved masterful over the final portion of the contest. After VanMeetren's RBI single in the fourth, the Aztec junior right-hander retired the next 14 batters he faced. He would surrender another unearned run in the top of the ninth and depart the contest with runners at first and third and one out.
Over his 8.1 innings, Thompson allowed the two unearned runs on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts. He would get credit for the win to move his season record to 1-5.
Junior lefty Jacob Erickson would come on at that point and get VanMeetren on a called third strike with Stratton throwing out Justin Jones, who was on the move from first base on the pitch. It was Erickson's first save of the season.
Shortstop Alan Trejo was the lone Aztecs with more than one hit in the contest as he connected for a pair of singles and scored once.
Up next for the Aztecs is a contest at the University of Diego on Tuesday, April 12, at 6:00 p.m. at USD's Fowler Park.