BERKELEY, Calif. – San Diego State opened its crucial Mountain West series against San José State in style Friday with a 5-3 triumph at the University of California's Evans Diamond at Stu Gordon Stadium in the completion of a suspended game from March 10 in San Diego.
The two teams were scheduled to lock horns in another make-up game from March 11 immediately following the Aztecs' victory; however, the nightcap was postponed by rain.
Consequently, SDSU and SJSU will square off in a nine-inning contest on Saturday at Stanford University's Klein Field at Sunken Diamond, starting at 1:05 p.m. PT, followed by a seven-inning affair. In addition, the two squads will return to Berkeley on Sunday to wrap up the weekend with another doubleheader featuring a pair of seven-inning games, with the starting time to be determined.
Thanks to Friday's earlier decision, the Aztecs (19-22, 13-7 MW) strengthened their grip on first place in the conference standings, with the Scarlet and Black maintaining the upper hand over second-place Air Force (22-25, 14-10 MW), which fell at Arizona in the opener of a non-conference series, while the Spartans (20-21, 13-10 MW) lost their fourth straight to slip into third.
Facing a 2-0 deficit when play resumed in the fourth inning, SDSU plated all five of its runs in the bottom of that frame, capitalizing on an SJSU error to spark the outburst.
Irvin Weems led off with a double and advanced on Cole Carrigg's sacrifice bunt, sandwiched between walks to Shaun Montoya and Poncho Ruiz. With the bases loaded, Weems and Montoya quickly raced home when Tino Bethancourt reached on an error by Spartan third baseman Dalton Bowling.
After Jonathan Clark induced a flyout to Maddox Haley, Xavier Gonzalez drew another walk to reload the bases, setting up Cade Martinez's three-run double on a 2-2 offering, which gave the Scarlet and Black a 5-2 cushion.
San José State narrowed the gap with a run in the top of the eighth when Hunter Dorraugh crossed the plate after Marcus Spear reached on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded.
Leading off the inning, Dorraugh got aboard courtesy of Gonzalez's error at shortstop and advanced to second on Xavier Cardenas III's wild pitch following Bowling's strikeout, while Theo Hardy walked, and James Shimashita singled to left field. Ricky Tibbett entered at this juncture and erased Shimashita at second on Spear's grounder but prevented further damage by striking out Nathan Cadena.
Buoyed by his good fortune, Tibbett struck out the side in the ninth, freezing Jack Colette and Charles McAdoo for the final two outs to collect his first save of the season and second of his career.
Despite the hiccup in the eighth, Cardenas (1-0) picked up his first collegiate victory, posting career highs with six strikeouts and 4 1/3 innings pitched. The Aztec freshman got out of a jam in the fourth, inducing a two-out pop fly to McAdoo after Robert Hamchuk doubled and Colette walked. He retired the side in each of the next three innings before Dorraugh reached on the aforementioned error to lead off the eighth.
On the flip side, Clark (2-4) absorbed the loss, yielding five runs on three hits and six walks in five innings of work.
Previously, the Spartans built a 2-0 lead back at Tony Gwynn Stadium on March 10 thanks to McAdoo's sacrifice fly and Dorraugh's RBI single in the top of the first. However, rain intensified throughout the contest until play was halted after SDSU went down in order in the third.
The two teams will resume their series on Saturday with a doubleheader at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on the campus of Stanford University, starting at 1:05 p.m. PT.
Aztecs Defeat SJSU in Completion of Suspended Game
