Aztecs Stymied by Utah at Tony Gwynn Legacy

SAN DIEGO – San Diego State dropped its first home game of the 2026 campaign on Saturday after coming up empty in a 7-0 defeat to visiting Utah at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

Facing their second opponent of the 11th annual Tony Gwynn Legacy, the Aztecs (4-2) were victimized by the long ball, as the Utes (3-2) smacked three home runs in the contest.

In addition, SDSU was unable to solve the Utah pitching duo of Payton Riske and Cameron Nielson, who yielded two hits apiece in the shutout.

Despite three walks against one strikeout, Riske (1-0) worked through 5 2/3 innings to earn the victory, while Nielson fanned four batters without a walk during his stint to collect the save.

On the flip side, Aztec pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts, including six by starter Drew Talavs (1-1), who absorbed the loss after yielding three runs (two earned) on four hits and one walk in five innings.

The game started ominously for the Scarlet and Black when Nevan Noonan’s two-out solo shot in the first put the visitors in front to stay.

Noonan later reached on an infield error in the fourth and promptly circled the bases when the next batter Cameron Gurney went deep with a two-run blast to right, giving Utah a 3-0 advantage.

The Utes plated four runs over the final three innings to essentially put the contest out of reach. Jet Gilliam homered to lead off the seventh, while Cal Miller walked with two outs in the eighth and advanced to third on a pair of Aztec miscues before trotting home on a balk. Then in the ninth, Gurney knocked in Luke Jacobs and Jake Long with a ground-rule double to close out the scoring.

SDSU stranded a pair of runners in the third when Anthony Marnell IV led off with a double and advanced on Dawson Santana’s sacrifice following a one-out walk to Drew Rutter. However, Riske induced a flyout to extinguish the threat.

Likewise, the Aztecs were unable to capitalize on Jabin Trosky’s two-out triple in the sixth, which chased Riske. Nielson took the mound at this juncture and issued a walk to Jake Jackson before getting out of a jam with a strikeout of Tyce Peterson.

Gurney (4 RBIs), Jacobs and Blake Eckerle had two hits apiece to lead Utah, while Max Farrel’s single in the eighth and Peterson’s ground-rule double in the ninth accounted for SDSU’s two other hits.

The Tony Gwynn Legacy concludes for the Aztecs on Sunday when they entertain San Diego in a crosstown battle at Tony Gwynn Stadium. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. PT with a live broadcast on the Mountain West Network.