May 21, 2016
SAN JOSE, Calif - San Diego State concluded its 2016 regular season with a 6-0 victory at San Jose State Saturday afternoon in a game that was called after five innings due to rain. With the win, the Aztecs improved to 19-36 overall and finish 11-19 in the Mountain West (sixth place).
Four pitchers combined to shut out the Spartans on two hits over the five innings. Mike Diamond got the starting assignment and went two innings, allowing a hit with no walks and two strikeouts. With the contest being a designated staff day for the pitchers, he was credited with the victory to improve to 1-2 on the year.
Marcus Reyes, Cody Thompson and Chris Collins went one inning apiece with San Jose State's other hit coming against Collins in the fifth. The four hurlers combined to surrender one walk while striking out six.
San Diego State opened the scoring in the first inning when it loaded the bases on two singles and a hit batter before David Hensley drew a two-out walk to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The Aztecs added four more in the second, getting RBI singles from Justin Wylie and Alan Trejo plus a two-run base hit by Spencer Thornton to make it a 5-0 game.
SDSU's final run came two frames later when Trejo reached on a bunt single and went to third on Thornton's single to left. Hensley then laid down a safety squeeze to score Trejo with the Aztecs' sixth run.
Three SDSU players ended the abbreviated contest with two hits including Wylie (run, RBI), Trejo (run, 2 RBI) and Thornton (2 RBI). The Aztecs' only extra base hit in the contest was a double by CJ Saylor during the four-run outburst in the second inning.
Like the Aztecs, San Jose State used four pitchers in the contest with an eye toward next week's Mountain West Tournament in Albuquerque. Starter Jonathan Hernandez, who allowed SDSU's first five runs during his 1.2 innings, took the loss to fall to 1-3.
The Aztecs and Spartans will get next week's tourney underway with the play-in game on Wednesday, May 25, at 11:00 a.m. (MT) at New Mexico's Santa Ana Star Field. The winner of that contest will advance into the regular double elimination bracket and face Nevada at 7:00 p.m. (MT) that night. The loser will see its 2016 season come to an end.