March 10, 2017
RENO, Nev. - San Diego State scored four times in the top of the eighth inning to break open a tight contest and went on to defeat Nevada, 7-2, Friday afternoon at Peccole Park in Reno. The victory came in the Aztecs' 2017 Mountain West opener and ended an eight-game losing streak at the hands of the Wolf Pack.
With the win, the Aztecs improved to 9-5 overall and 1-0 in conference play while Nevada saw its record drop to 3-10 (1-3 MW).
SDSU wasted little time in grabbing the lead, putting a run on the board in the top of the first on a single by Alan Trejo and RBI double by Andrew Brown.
The Aztecs added two more in the second on a leadoff double by David Hensley and run-scoring singles by Hunter Stratton and Trejo.
On the mound, senior left Brett Seeburger sailed through the first two innings before surrendering a run in the bottom of the third on a double, sac bunt and single to make it a 3-1 contest.
The home side drew to within a run in its half of the seventh when it loaded the bases with one out. That brought junior right-hander Jorge Fernandez out of the pen in relief of Seeburger, and although the Wolf Pack scored on a fielder's choice to make it 3-2, Fernandez would finish the game to record his first save of the year.
As for Seeburger, his day ended after 6.1 innings during which he was charged with two runs on five hits, a walk and three strikeouts. Each of his strikeouts came with the batter looking at the third strike. Seeburger would pick up the win to improve to 3-0 on the season.
With their three-run advantage shaved to a single run after seven innings, the Aztec responded in the top of the eighth with a four-run rally keyed by a pair of long balls.
Brown led off with a single and advanced to second on Danny Sheehan's sacrifice bunt. Jordan Verdon then sent a ball deep over the right field fence and SDSU suddenly had a 5-2 lead. Andre Martinez then it made-back-to-back homers with a shot to right center field.
The Aztecs fourth run of the frame came when Hensley reached on a throwing error by the shortstop and pulled into second base on the play. Tyler Adkison's single through the left side scored Hensley and made it a 7-2 contest.
Trejo and Martinez both ended the afternoon with three hits, an RBI and run scored. Brown and Hensley added two hits apiece for the Aztecs, who totaled 13 in the contest.
San Diego State and Nevada will continue their three-game series on Saturday (March 11) with a game scheduled to get underway at 1:00 p.m. PT at Peccole Park.