May 25, 2016
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Nevada scored 11 runs over the first four innings and cruised to a 13-5 victory over San Diego State in the final game of day one at the Mountain West Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M. With the loss, the Aztecs drop into the losers' bracket knowing that one more loss will put an end to their 2016 campaign.
The result allowed the Wolf Pack to improve its overall season record to 34-22 while SDSU saw its ledger drop to 20-37.
The game started well enough for San Diego State as it jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the opening inning. Singles by Alan Trejo and Jordan Verdon were followed by a ball over the center field fence by Tyler Adkison, his fifth home run of the season.
The Aztecs' joy was short-lived, however, as Nevada stormed back with six runs in the bottom of the first on three singles, two triples and an SDSU fielding error. Those six runs (four earned) came against SDSU starting hurler Cody Thompson, who would depart after one-third of an inning. He would end up being charged with the loss to fall to 3-8 on the season.
The Wolf Pack would add a single run in the second inning and two more in each of the next two frames while the Aztecs could push across just one over that span. Four of those Nevada runs were charged to Marcus Reyes with the fifth coming against Mike Diamond. The offensive outburst meant Nevada held an 11-4 lead after the first four frames.
Wolf Pack starting hurler Christian Stolo kept the SDSU offense in check after Adkison's homer in the first, allowing only the single run in the top of the fourth and one more in the fifth. In his eight innings of work, the lefty surrendered the five runs on 10 hits while walking none and striking out four He would be credited with the win to improve to 4-7.
Adkison would be the Aztecs' offensive leader on the night as he added a fourth RBI to his game total with a single in the fifth to score Justin Wylie for SDSU's final run of the night.
David Hensley and Denz'l Chapman also both ended the contest with two hits apiece while SDSU's fifth RBI went to CJ Saylor with a run-scoring single in the fourth.
San Diego State will now face No. 4 seed UNLV on Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. (MT) in an elimination game. The winner of that contest will remain alive in the tourney and move on to another elimination game Friday morning while the loser would see its 2016 season come to an end.