Feb. 16, 2018
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SDSU-UCSB Box Score
SAN DIEGO --The San Diego State baseball team kicked off its 2018 campaign in commanding fashion, defeating UC Santa Barbara, 9-1, on Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Logan Boyer, a preseason all-MW selection, impressed in his first start of the season, going 3.2 innings with a career-high eight strikeouts. After Boyer started his evening inducing a 6-3 groundout, Boyer went on to strikeout the next four Gaucho hitters he faced.
Boyer was quick to run into efficient run support, as the Aztecs broke the game open early with a five-run second inning. After Chad Bible opened the inning with a line-drive single to right center, he came around to score the Aztecs' first run of the season on a wild pitch.
Jacob Maekawa laced a 2-RBI single to left field later in the inning, and to cap the second-inning outburst, Jordan Verdon posted a 2-RBI double to left to score Chase Calabuig and Maekawa.
After UCSB posted its lone run of the game in the third, Jacob Erickson came on in relief for Boyer and dominated over his 2.1 innings of work, striking out three Gauchos while allowing just one hit in a scoreless outing.
The Aztecs added some insurance in the fifth inning, as the inning started off with Verdon missing a home run by just inches off the right-field wall and settling for an inning-opening triple. In the next at-bat, Verdon came around to score on Bible's second single of the day. Freshmen Matt Rudick and Casey Schmitt gave the Aztecs its third and fourth consecutive hits, respectively, with Rudick single through the right side of the infield before Schmitt drove in Bible on a single to centerfield.
The Aztecs capped the scoring with a run in the eighth. Freshmen Daniel Ritcheson and Casey O'Sullivan both impressed in their respective collegiate debuts, with Ritcheson (2 IP, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB) posting a scoreless seventh and eighth inning and O'Sullivan (1 IP, 0 H, 2 K, 1 BB) posting a hitless ninth inning to close out SDSU's season-opening victory.
UP NEXT
San Diego State continues its three-game set with UC Santa Barbara tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. RHP Harrison Pyatt is set to take the mound for the Aztecs, while LHP Jack Dashwood will take the mound for the Gauchos.