March 4, 2018
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San Diego State baseball completed a two-game, rain-shortened sweep of San Jose State at Municipal Stadium on Sunday, winning both ends of a doubleheader by scores of 7-2 and 11-1, respectively. The Aztecs improve to 8-3 on the year, while San Jose State falls below .500 at 5-6.
Game 1: San Diego State 7, San Jose State 2
San Diego State utilized three home runs in a 7-2 win to open the doubleheader, with Jordan Verdon, David Hensley, and Chad Bible all hitting their first home runs of the season to drive in six of SDSU's seven runs.
Facing a 1-0 deficit in the top of the fourth, Verdon hit a no-doubt blast over the right-field fence to level the score at 1-1.
SJSU built another lead with a one-run, three-hit bottom of the fourth, however, the Spartan lead was short-lived, as Hensley's three-run home run scoring Matt Rudick and Jacob Maekawa proved to be all the offense SDSU would need for the remainder of the game.
The home run trend did not stop for the Aztecs, as in the top of the eighth inning, Chad Bible launched a ball over the centerfield wall to make it a 6-2 SDSU lead. Bible, who led all California junior college players with 15 home runs in 2016, hit his first home run as an Aztec - a year after undergoing cancer treatment for stage 2 Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The Aztecs added an insurance run after Bible's blast, with Julian Escobedo tripling off the right-field wall in the ensuing at-bat before being driven in by Casey Schmitt on an RBI single.
On the mound, Harrison Pyatt earned his first win of the season in his longest outing of 2018, hurling 5.1 innings and allowing two runs - both earned - on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
The Aztec bullpen continued to shine in relief of Pyatt, as Jacob Erickson, Casey O'Sullivan, and Jacob Flores teamed up for 3.2 innings of shutout relief with only two hits allowed.
Game 2: San Diego State 11, San Jose State 1
The Aztecs used a season-high 11 runs in a game 2 win over the Spartans, led by a career-high four hits by senior David Hensley who finished his day 4-for-5 with three RBIs.
SDSU carried over its offensive production from game 1 into game 2 early and often and scored the game's first run before the Spartans could record an out in thanks to a Rudick leadoff single, a Hensley single, and Chase Calabuig's RBI single to give SDSU an early 1-0 lead.
Bible continued his impressive day to lead off the second, hitting a double to left field before coming around to score on an SJSU throwing error. The Aztecs capped a two-run, two-hit second inning with a Rudick sacrifice fly to score Julian Escobedo.
Hensley and Jordan Verdon each drove in a run in the fifth and the ensuing inning, Hensley drove in his third run of the game, bringing home Casey Schmitt on an RBI single to make it a 6-0 game.
The Aztecs broke things open in the seventh and made it an 11-0 Aztec advantage with a five-run, six-hit inning, highlighted by a two-RBI triple by Calabuig to score Hensley and Maekawa.
On the mound, Garrett Hill continued his successful start to his 2018 campaign, tossing six shutout innings with five hits allowed, seven strikeouts, and no walks for his second win of the season. Noah Fluman and Jorge Fernandez hurled a scoreless eighth and ninth inning, respectively, to close out SDSU's sweep-clinching win.
Notes
- San Diego State has won eight consecutive games against San Jose State and now own a 73-30 lead in the all-time series. The Aztecs have outscored the Spartans 60-21 in the last eight games.
- The 10-run margin of victory is SDSU's largest against SJSU since defeating the Spartans 14-3 on April 27, 2014.
- San Diego State's 11 runs in game 2 are the most the Aztecs have scored in a game this season.
- The Aztecs have now won 56 consecutive games when leading after eight innings, 27 consecutive games when leading after seven innings, 17 consecutive games when scoring five or more runs, and 15 consecutive games when leading after six innings.
-SDSU recorded its 100th strikeout of the season in the first inning of game 1, needing just 82.1 innings to reach the 100-strikeout mark. That's the fastest an Aztec team has reached that mark since joining the Mountain West in 2000.
Up Next
SDSU travels to Tucson, Ariz. for a midweek contest at Arizona. Next weekend, the Aztecs continue Mountain West action with a three-game set against Air Force at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
-SDSU-