May 14, 2016
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Honors were even as San Diego State and Air Force each won one game of Saturday afternoon's doubleheader at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Falcons captured the opening seven-inning contest, 5-2, with the Aztecs rebounding to win the second game, 8-5.
In SDSU's win, all of the scoring came after the third inning as Air Force (27-22, 11-15 MW) scored single runs in the fourth through eighth frames while the Aztecs plated two in the fourth through sixth along with the eighth.
Five Falcons pitchers combined to limit San Diego State (16-34, 8-18 MW) to just four this in the contest with two of those coming off the bat of Denz'l Chapman. Justin Wylie and Andrew Brown also had hits for the home side with all four of SDSU's safeties in the contest being singles.
Of SDSU's eight runs, only one was scored on a base hit. Four came on sacrifice flies, one on a wild pitch, and two on a first and third steal attempt that resulted in both runners scoring with the aid of a pair of Falcon errors.
Jordan Verdon, Tyler Adkison and Spencer Thornton accounted for three of SDSU's first four runs with sacrifice flies. The fourth came on a two-out wild pitch with Thornton at third.
Holding a 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, CJ Saylor walked and advanced to third on a single by Chapman. With Chapman attempting to steal second, the Air Force catcher's throw bounced away from the shortstop allowing Saylor to score. The shortstop retrieved the ball and threw wildly to the plate with the ball going into the SDSU dugout allowing Chapman to score on the play as well.
After the Falcons trimmed SDSU's lead to 6-5 in the top of the eighth, SDSU scored twice in the bottom of the inning on a pair of walks, an RBI single by Chapman and a sacrifice fly by Brown.
Aztec starter Brett Seeburger (1-2), who allowed three runs on six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts over his 5.2 innings of work, picked up the win. Freshman Chris Collins, who tossed the final 1.1 innings, recorded his first save of the season.
The opening game of the twin bill was all about Air Force ace Griffin Jax, who tossed a seven-inning complete game allowing two unearned runs on four hits with a walk and four strikeouts.
After Air Force took a quick lead with first inning solo home run by Adam Groesbeck, the Aztecs responded with a pair of runs in the top of the second as Chapman's two-out single brought home a pair of runs after the inning had been prolonged by a Falcon fielding error.
SDSU's 2-1 lead did not last long, however, as Air Force rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fourth against Aztec starting pitcher Harrison Pyatt. The redshirt freshman would depart after four innings having surrendered the four runs on nine hits with a walk and three strikeouts. He would be charged with the loss to see his record drop to 0-6.
Jax, meanwhile, retired 15 of the 17 batters he face after giving up the two runs in the second inning including the final seven in a row. With the victory he improved to 8-2 on the year.
Chapman and Brown finished the contest with two singles apiece to account for all four of their team's hits.
Air Force and San Diego State will wrap up their weekend of baseball with a game on Sunday, May 15, scheduled to get underway at 1:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.