April 2, 2017
Andrew Brown's bases-loaded double in the bottom of the eighth broke a 1-1 deadlock and sent San Diego State to a 5-1 victory over San Jose State Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Brown's two-out hit got an assist from the sun, as the Spartan center fielder was unable to track what appeared to be a routine fly ball.
The victory was the eighth in the last 10 outings for the Aztecs, who improved to 19-9 overall and 9-3 in the Mountain West after completing the sweep of their three-game weekend series with SJSU.
The Spartans, meanwhile, saw their record fall to 10-17 and they now sit in fourth-place tie with UNLV in the conference standings with a 5-7 league mark.
With senior Cody Thompson on the mound for SDSU, the visitors struck for an unearned run in the top of the second, loading the bases on a double, walk and infield error before Justin Beck blooped a single to left that neither shortstop Danny Sheehan or left fielder Tyler Adkison could reach.
Thompson would depart the contest after tossing 5.1 innings after allowing just the unearned run on five hits with a pair of walks and two strikeouts. The right-hander gave way to junior lefty Jacob Erickson, who would be the beneficiary of his team's four-run seventh inning and claim the victory to improve to 4-1 on the year.
Having been frustrated at not being able to cash in on two excellent scoring opportunities earlier in the contest, the Aztecs finally broke through in the bottom of the seventh. One-out back-to-back doubles by Andrew Martinez and Chase Calabuig tied the game at 1-1.
An ensuing double by David Hensley and intentional walk to Dean Nevarez loaded the bases with one out before a ground ball back to the mound resulted in a fielder's choice at home for the second out.
Brown them lofted a 2-2 pitch to center field, but what appeared to be a routine fly ball was lost in the sun and bright blue sky, falling in for a double that cleared the bases and gave the Aztecs a 4-1 lead.
SDSU added a run one inning later on a leadoff triple by Jordan Verdon, his team-leading fourth of the year, and a wild pitch for the final 5-1 score line.
Alan Trejo tossed the final two innings, allowing only a leadoff single in the ninth that was erased on a game-ending double play. In the process he picked up his first save of the season.
Calabuig was the lone Aztec to record more than one hit in the game as he had a single and double while driving in a run.
San Diego State will continue a run of five games in five days on Monday (April 3) when it hosts San Francisco for a contest scheduled to get underway at 2:00 p.m. PT at Tony Gwynn Stadium.