April 3, 2017
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State used some timely hitting and a solid pitching performance from five hurlers as it defeated San Francisco, 4-2, Monday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
With the victory, the Aztecs reached the 20-win plateau one game past the mid-point of the regular season as they improved to 20-9 on the year. USF, meanwhile, dropped it fourth straight contest to fall to 14-15.
SDSU opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning and led the rest of the way. Jordan Verdon's double plus a one-out walk to Andrew Martinez put runners at first and second before Chase Calabuig's single through the right side brought home Verdon with the opening marker. Dean Nevarez then hit a hard shot toward shortstop that went for an infield single to drive in Martinez and give the Aztecs a 2-0 advantage.
The Dons wasted little time in cutting into that lead, however, as Matt Sinatro took a Harrison Pyatt pitch over the right field fence in the top of the third to cut the deficit to 2-1.
San Diego State reclaimed a two-run lead in its half of the fourth when Tyler Adkison walked, stole second and scored on a double to right center field by Calabuig.
Pyatt pitched into the fifth inning, but was lifted with two out in that frame after allowing a run on a walk and two singles. He would finish with 4.2 innings pitched over which he allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts.
Senior lefty Marcus Reyes came on to get the final out in the fifth and would toss two complete innings, surrendering a lone single while striking out two. He would be credited with the win to improve to 1-2.
The Aztecs added an insurance run in the eighth, loading the bases on singles by Julian Escobedo, Alan Trejo and Andrew Brown and scoring on Verdon's sacrifice fly to center.
CJ Saylor would come on and pitch a three-up-and-three-down ninth inning to record his seventh save of the season.
For the second day in a row, Calabuig was the lone Aztec with more than one hit as he recorded a single and double with two RBI.
San Diego State will wrap up a run of five games in five days on Tuesday (April 4) when it travels to Lake Elsinore to face UCLA in a contest scheduled to get underway at 6:00 p.m. That game will be played at The Diamond, the home of the Class-A Lake Elsinore Storm, a minor league affiliate of the San Diego Padres.