FULLERTON, Calif. – Now winners of four in a row and six of their last eight, the San Diego State baseball team defeated Cal State Fullerton, 6-1, at Goodwin Field on Friday night. The Aztecs earn their 20th win of the season and improve to 20-14, while the Titans fall to 14-16.
Three of SDSU's six runs came via a home run, as Jaden Fein hit a solo homer to lead off the second inning and Julian Escobedo hit a two-run shot in the fifth. Both homers marked as Fein and Escobedo's third of the season.
On the mound, Justin Goossen-Brown posted six shutout innings with only three hits allowed while walking two and striking out four. After allowing a leadoff single in the third, Goossen-Brown faced retired each of the next nine batters and faced the minimum over his next 12 batters faced, allowing just one hit by pitch over that run.
Fresh off his Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week honors, Adrian Mardueno came into the game in the sixth inning with a two-man-on, no-out situation. Mardueno proceeded to strikeout each of the next two batters he faced before allowing a walk to load the bases. The walk proved to be harmless, however, as Mardueno finished the inning with a strikeout of Fullerton's Zach Weller to strand both of his inherited runners.
Brian Leonhardt opened the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the first and in the next inning, Fein hit his third home run of the season to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Aztecs added a pair of runs in the fifth courtesy of Escobedo's two-run blast. SDSU added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, using a Chad Bible RBI double and a Ryan Orr sacrifice fly.
Jacob Flores shined in relief for the Aztecs, striking out four in 1.2 shutout innings with only one hit allowed.
Escobedo (2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI), Leonhardt (2-for-4, R, RBI), and Bible (2-for-4, RBI) all recorded two hits each to lead the offense.
Goossen-Brown earned the win to improve to 5-1 on the year, while Cal State Fullerton's Tanner Bibee fell to 4-5 on the year after allowing four runs on five hits in five innings pitched.
NOTES
- SDSU has won five of the last six meetings with Cal State Fullerton and have won back-to-back games at Goodwin Field. It is the first time since 1976-77 that SDSU has won back-to-back games against Cal State Fullerton as the road team.
- SDSU improves to 26-8 against the Big West since the start of the 2017 season and extend their win streak against Big West to six.
- SDSU matches its longest winning streak of the season at four games. Over the last four games,
- SDSU improves to 101-49 (.673) over its last 150 games against California-based programs.
- SDSU is 52-9 in their last 61 games when scoring five or more runs and 26-2 when limiting their opponent to two or fewer runs.
- SDSU is 16-2 this season when out-hitting their opponent and have won 12 in a row in that situation.
- SDSU improves to 7-2 this season when striking out five or fewer times.
- Justin Goossen-Brown recorded his fourth consecutive quality start and over his last three starts, Goossen-Brown has thrown 21 innings and allowed just two earned runs (0.86 ERA) on 11 hits and five walks while recording 20 strikeouts. The Aztecs are 7-1 in Goossen-Brown's eight starts this season.
- Adrian Mardueno extended his streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to 15.1 and has struck out 17 batters over that span. Mardueno's ERA of 1.46 and opponent batting average of .136 both remain the best marks in the Mountain West. Mardueno has stranded 16 of his 23 inherited runners including seven of his last eight.
- Matt Rudick extended his on-base streak to 28 games. Rudick has recorded a hit in 32 of 34 games and reached base in 33 of 34 games this season.
- Brian Leonhardt recorded his 13th multi-hit game, putting him in a tie for the team lead with Matt Rudick.
UP NEXT
San Diego State looks to clinch a series win tomorrow night at Goodwin Field with first pitch between the Aztecs and Titans scheduled for 6:00 p.m. RHP Harrison Pyatt (0-1, 3.21 ERA) is scheduled to start for SDSU, while RHP Kyle Luckham (3-3, 5.73 ERA) is expected to start for CSF.
Baseball Defeats Cal State Fullerton, 6-1
