SAN DIEGO – Behind a three-run eighth inning and a lights-out performance by Daniel Ritcheson out of the bullpen, the San Diego State baseball team posted a 6-4 comeback win over Arizona at Tony Gwynn Stadium on Monday night. The Aztecs improve to 14-9 on the season, while the Wildcats fall to 13-11.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Joe Fitzhugh kick-started the late-inning rally with a one-out double. Fitzhugh advanced to third on a Ryan Orr groundout and later scored on a Matt Rudick single cutting through the left side of the infield to knot the score at 4-4.
Angelo Armenta delivered the go-ahead knock, ripping a line drive into right-center to score Rudick. Casey Schmitt later brought home an insurance run, singling to right to score Mike Jarvis.
During the late-inning comeback, Ritcheson was nearly perfect for the Aztecs on the mound, posting an inning-ending strikeout to leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth before striking out the side in the ninth to close the game.
Ritcheson earned his first win of the season, allowing just one base runner over 1.1 innings pitched and recording all four of his outs via strikeout.
The scoring started early for the Aztecs and Wildcats, as the teams traded first-inning home runs with Arizona third baseman Nick Quintana hitting an opposite-field solo home run in the top of the first and Casey Schmitt hitting his third home run of the season in the bottom half to give the Aztecs a 2-1 lead.
Jarvis drove in Rudick on a double down the left field line in the bottom of the third to extend SDSU's early lead to 3-1. The Wildcats eventually erased SDSU's early lead, scoring single runs in the fifth, sixth, and eighth.
Making his first collegiate start, Brian Leonhardt went 3.1 innings with four runs, one run and one walk allowed while striking out five.
Jarvis led the Aztecs offensively, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Schmitt finished 2-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs, while Rudick finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Arizona's Avery Weems was handed the loss after surrendering three runs on three hits.
NOTES
- SDSU is 9-3 in its last 12 games. That stretch marks as the best 12-game stretch for the Aztecs since going 10-2 from April 15, 2018 - May 5, 2018.
- San Diego State improves to 6-1 in its last seven games against members of the Pac-12.
- SDSU recorded its 14th double-digit strikeout game of the season with 14 punch outs, surpassing the 2018 season total of 13.
- Mike Jarvis recorded his fourth consecutive multi-hit game with a 3-for-3 showing on Monday. Over his last four games, Jarvis is 9-for-15 (.600) with six runs scored.
- Matt Rudick extended his hitting streak to 15 games and his on-base streak to 17 games. Rudick's 15-game hitting streak is the longest since current graduate assistant Danny Sheehan recorded a 17-game streak during the 2017 season.
- Rudick also recorded his team-leading 11th multi-hit game of the season.
- SDSU's top four hitters (Matt Rudick, Mike Jarvis, Angelo Armenta, Casey Schmitt) combined for eight of SDSU's nine hits, scored five of SDSU's six runs, recorded all six of SDSU's six RBIs, and collectively went 8-for-16 (.500) at the plate.
- Casey Schmitt recorded his fourth multi-RBI game of the season and his seventh multi-hit game of the season.
- Chad Bible had a 13-game on-base streak come to a close tonight.
- The game time of 4:20 marks as the longest game of the season for SDSU and the fourth 4:00+ game of the season.
- The two teams combined for eight different pitchers and 27 different position players used.
UP NEXT
SDSU finishes a five-games-in-five-day stretch tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. against California Baptist. The game will air on XTRA 1360.
Eighth-Inning Rally Gives Baseball 6-4 Win Over Arizona
