SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State baseball team completed a three-game sweep of San Jose State with a 10-8 at Tony Gwynn Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Aztecs improve their record to 29-19 (14-9 Mountain West), while the Spartans fall to 19-29 (12-12 MW).
After the Spartans scored single runs in the first, third, and fourth, the Aztecs broke out for a seven-run fourth inning featuring a Brian Leonhardt bases-loaded walk, a Jacob Maekawa bases-clearing 3-RBI double, a Julian Escobedo RBI double, and a 2-RBI single by Casey Schmitt.
A pair of SJSU tallies in the fifth cut the Aztec lead to 7-5 but Schmitt continued his red-hot weekend with an RBI double in the sixth to score Matt Rudick. Angelo Armenta and Jaden Fein followed, recording a sacrifice fly and an RBI double, respectively, to stretch the lead to 10-5.
The Spartans threatened in the late stages, scoring three in the eighth and loading the bases in the ninth. Upon entering the game in the eighth, Adrian Mardueno quickly stopped the bleeding in a two-runner, no-out situation, recording back-to-back outs before surrendering a two-out walk. Mardueno forced Spartan right fielder Connor Konishi into an inning-ending fly out to end the threat.
In the ninth, Casey Schmitt took over after Mardueno surrendered back-to-back one-out singles. Schmitt walked the first batter he faced, but worked around it, forcing Jack Colette to pop out to second base before striking out pinch hitter Johnny Mendoza on three pitches to end the game.
Schmitt was credited with his eighth save of the season and his second of the weekend. Aaron Eden provided the Aztecs with a seven-inning start to earn the win and improve to 4-1 on the year.
Schmitt and Ryan Orr went 2-for-5 and 2-for-4, respectively, to lead the Aztec lineup. As a team, SDSU went 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
UP NEXT
San Diego State faces Brigham Young tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Looking ahead to next weekend's Mountain West series at Fresno State, the winner of the three-game series against the Bulldogs will enter the final weekend with sole possession of first place in the conference.
Baseball Finishes Sweep of SJSU, 10-8
