June 1, 2018
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- The No. 3-seeded San Diego State baseball team fell to No. 2 seed LSU on Friday afternoon, 6-4, at Goss Stadium in the Corvallis Regional.
SDSU fell behind after a three-run bottom of the second for the Tigers, featuring two RBI groundouts and a run on a wild pitch.
After three come-from-behind wins in the Mountain West Tournament last weekend, the Aztecs showed signs of continuing that trend in the top of the fourth, using a Julian Escobedo run on a wild pitch and a game-tying two-RBI double by Jacob Maekawa to even up the score at 3-3.
That score remained until the bottom of the sixth, where LSU recorded another three-spot with a four-hit showing.
LSU limited SDSU's offensive production during the middle stages, with 11 of 12 Aztecs being retired from the fifth inning until Jordan Verdon's one-out double in the top of the eighth. Verdon later came around to score two batters later on an Escobedo single.
Logan Boyer held the LSU lineup hitless in the seventh and eighth, keeping just a two-run deficit heading to the ninth inning. In its last chance for a comeback, SDSU was retired in order by LSU closer Todd Peterson in the ninth.
Starting pitcher Jorge Fernandez went three innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Jacob Erickson was dealt a tough-luck loss and fell to 5-4 on the year, allowing just one hit over his first two innings of work before finishing with 2.2 innings pitched with three hits and two runs allowed.
Escobedo recorded two of SDSU's six hits after a 2-for-4 performance with a double and an RBI.
NOTES
- San Diego State had its three-game win streak snapped today.
- San Diego State is 15-3 following a loss this season.
- Mark Martinez falls to 5-5 in his career against teams that played in the College World Series the year prior.
Team Notes
- San Diego State scored four runs despite having only six hits on the afternoon.
- SDSU allowed just one extra-base hit against LSU (nine total hits for the Tigers). San Diego State totaled three extra-base hits on Friday afternoon.
- SDSU had the leadoff man to start an inning just once against LSU.
- SDSU limited LSU to a .200 (2-for-10) batting average with two outs.
- The Aztecs held the Tigers without a hit the first 10 times that LSU batted with a runner in scoring position.
- SDSU's 4-7 hitters in the lineup were a collective 5-for-16 (.313) with three runs scored and an RBI.
- The Aztecs bullpen allowed only five hits over 5.0 innings pitched today.
Julian Escobedo
2-for-4, 2B, R, RBI, SB
- Reached base for the 23rd consecutive game (longest active streak on the team).
- Has a hit on a team-best five consecutive games.
- Posted his 19th multiple-hit game of the campaign.
Jacob Maekawa
1-for-3, 2 RBI
- One of three players to start all 59 games this season.
- Had his seventh multiple-RBI game of the campaign and matched his season-high for runs batted in.
- Extended his streak of reaching base safely to 12 games.
- Has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games.
Jordan Verdon
1-for-4, 2B, R
- Recorded his 27th double in the season and now is just four behind Chris Gwynn's school-record of 31 set in 1984.
- Recorded his 40th extra-base hit of the season, the most by an Aztec since Chris Gwynn hit 59 in 1984.
- He entered the day ranked fourth nationally in doubles.
Chase Calabuig
0-for-4
- Set the San Diego State career games played record with his 237th career game.
He's made 123 consecutive starts after today.
Dean Nevarez
1-for-4, R
- Reached base for the 14th consecutive game.
Jacob Erickson
2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
- Pitched in his school and Mountain West Conference record 120th career game.
- Had a streak of 8.1 consecutive scoreless innings snapped after holding LSU scoreless for the first two innings of his outing.
- Leads all active NCAA DI players in career appearances.
- He has now stranded 19 of 31 inherited runners this season.
QUOTES
Mark Martinez, San Diego State Head Coach
Opening statement:
"First and foremost congratulations to LSU. It was a really good baseball game. I thought they took advantages of some of our mistakes when they needed to and that was the difference in the baseball game Congratulations to Coach Mainieri and his group."
On today's loss to LSU:
"Hard fought baseball game. I thought the glaring mistakes we made, made a difference in the baseball game today. We have to recover from that in order to come back and play tomorrow and have a good game."
On erasing a 3-0 deficit:
'We did a great job coming back and scoring three runs in the top of the fourth inning to even up the score."
Jacob Erickson, Senior LHP
On his sixth-inning at-bat with LSU third baseman Jake Slaughter:
"I had 0-2 (count) on Slaughter and I was trying to punch him out and get a ball low and he did a good job of staying through and followed it all the way down and hit it up the middle."
On his style against LSU:
"Going into this game I knew LSU had never seen a guy like me. I take a little bit of pride in that and I kind of tried to stick with that game plan of throwing strikes and being crafty."
UP NEXT
SDSU will play the loser of Oregon State and Northwestern State, which play tonight at 7:00 p.m. tonight, tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. in an elimination game at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore.