May 25, 2016
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Justin Wylie's grand slam in the bottom of the ninth helped bring San Diego State back from the brink of elimination Wednesday afternoon at the 2016 Mountain West Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M. The Aztecs won the game at the end, 7-3, after not holding a lead at any point over the first eight innings.
The contest was the play-in game between SDSU and the Spartans with the winner advancing into the regular double elimination tourney bracket while the loser would conclude its season. The results mean the Aztecs (20-36) move on while San Jose State (17-39) sees its 2016 campaign come to an end.
San Jose State opened the scoring in the contest with a run in the top of third against SDSU starter Dominic Purpura. Shane Timmons' RBI single scored Aaron Pleschner, who had singled to open the frame. The Spartans went on to load the bases with two out before Michael Breen smashed a line drive that Aztec third baseman David Hemsley had to use all of his 6-6 height to snag to prevent a big inning by SJSU.
The Spartans doubled their lead two innings later thanks to some heads-up base running. With Joe Stefanki at second base with a leadoff double, Timmons hit a chopper in front of the plate down the first base line. Aztec catcher Hunter Stratton had to go up the line to make the play to get Timmons at first, but with nobody covering home Stefanki was able to score from second.
Trailing 2-0, SDSU finally got to San Jose starter Josh Nashed for a pair of runs in the seventh to tie the game. Hensley led off and reached base, advancing to second on a throwing error by Spartan third baseman Breen. Jordan Verdon then delivered an RBI double to bring home Hensley before pinch hitter Dean Nevarez singled to score Verdon to make it a 2-2 contest.
The Aztecs appeared to have the momentum, but in the top of the eighth Timmons regained the lead for his side with a solo home run to center off Aztec reliever Harrison Pyatt. But there would be one more twist to the tale before it was all over.
In the bottom of the ninth, Spencer Thornton led off with a walk and moved to second on Hensley's sacrifice bunt. An ensuing single by Verdon drove Thornton home to knot the score at 3-3. An intentional walk to Nevarez was followed by a balk by Nashed, which force another intentional walk to Andrew Brown to load the bases with one out. Wylie then stepped up and planted a 3-1 pitch well over the left field fence for the walk-off grand slam.
Pyatt (1-6) would get credit for the victory after tossing the final two innings allowing a run on one hit with a walk and strikeout.
SJSU's Nashed, despite pitching superbly over the first eight frames, would take the loss to fall to 0-6.
For Wylie, the home run was his fourth hit of the game while teammate Verdon finished with a single, double, two RBI and two runs scored.
SDSU's win means it will return to Santa Ana Star Field this evening (Wednesday, May 25) to take on No. 3 seed Nevada at 6:00 p.m. (PT). A win in that contest would move the Aztecs into the 7:00 p.m. game on Thursday (May 26) vs. host New Mexico at 6:00 p.m. (PT) while a loss would put them in the losers' bracket game at 10:00 a.m. (PT) Thursday morning.