SANTA CLARA, CA—On a day where their offensive struggles continued, San Diego State got the clutch pitching it needed to pull out a much-needed win. Tyler Lavigne delivered seven innings of strong work on the mound and Addison Reed worked out of two jams for his NCAA-leading 16th save of the season, as the Aztecs held off the Santa Clara Broncos 4-3 at Stephen Schott Stadium.
Combined with a 13-11 New Mexico loss to UNLV, San Diego State now has a narrow but clear path to a bye in the upcoming Mountain West Conference Tournament. BYU, New Mexico and SDSU all now have 8 conference losses, but thanks to rainouts, the Cougars and Lobos have fewer games remaining. If the Aztecs can run the table through MWC bottom-feeders Utah and Air Force in their final two series, they will clinch at worst a #2 seed in the tournament, and the coveted bye day that goes with it.
“It’s a huge, absolutely HUGE thing,” said head coach Tony Gwynn at the airport after the game, “because now you get a bye, now you get some time to let your pitchers recover from the last weekend (of the MWC regular season). We play at Utah on Thursday-Friday-Saturday, then we’re going to get on a plane and go straight from Utah to Texas and jump right into the conference tournament (on May 19th-23rd). The more days off you can get, the better your chances are of getting to the finals.”
The Aztecs’ chances of securing that bye of late had been as gloomy as the weather in Silicon Valley all weekend. Gray skies, dark clouds and intermittent rain persisted through all four days of SDSU’s stay, matching the team’s recent play on the field. Back-to-back weekend series losses to New Mexico and TCU had all-but squashed their hopes of getting a top-two spot.
The goal this weekend was to burnish San Diego State’s win total in non-conference play. Facing a senior-laden Santa Clara team that had lost seven straight coming in, the Aztecs rode Stephen Strasburg to a 5-0 win on Friday, then split a Saturday doubleheader. Their 7-5 win in the first game saw the Aztecs build a quick 7-0 lead after three, then hold on for dear life at the end, with Reed earning his 15th save. Then, State’s offense scored two fast and ground to a halt in a 7-2 loss which saw 25 of the last 27 batters go down in order.
“This has kind of been our pattern,” lamented Gwynn, “We put runs on the board early, and then for whatever reason we get comfortable, and we proceed to give away at-bats. At this time of the season, you can’t afford to do that. You’ve gotta gameplan, figure out what the pitcher is doing, and attack him. We don’t seem to do that well, which is a concern.”
Sunday, the pattern repeated, as SDSU got hits in three of their first four at-bats,scoring one on an Erik Castro RBI single. But the chance for more died on the vine as Cory Vaughn struck out with runners on the corners, and Mitch Blackburn was retired on a good play by Santa Clara shortsop Jon Karcich. Then, Broncos’ right-hander Steve Kalush, who entered the game with a 1-4 record and 8.20 ERA, shut down the Aztecs for 5 of the next 6 innings.
Thankfully for San Diego State, Tyler Lavigne was on top of his sinker and back to his sterling form. Utilizing the high grass on the Schott Stadium infield, Lavigne recorded 12 ground-ball outs in his 7+ innings of work. But a pair of defensive mistakes cost him the lead in the 3rd.
The inning began when Lavigne misplayed a bunt. Curtis Wagner’s bunt was ready to be scooped up by Castro at third, but Lavigne cut in front of him and then bobbled the ball for a leadoff single. After a sacrifice, Matt Long hit a high bounder into right for an RBI single to tie the game at one. As Wagner was coming around to score, Jomel Torres cut off Brandon Meredith’s throw from right field and had Long caught between first and second base, but instead threw home as Wagner scored. The extra base allowed proved costly. Long advanced to third on a great play by Blackburn at second, who threw out Kevin Madden from short right field. Then with two outs, Jon Karcich’s slow roller to shortstop was perfectly placed for an RBI infield single, giving Santa Clara at 2-1 lead.
“Their second run today was a gift because we didn’t make the right decision,” said Gwynn.
The Aztecs responded offensively though in their next at-bat. Castro led off with a surprise bunt single, catching the Santa Clara defense off guard. Cory Vaughn then pulled a single to put runners at 1st and 2nd. On a perfectly executed “butcher boy” play, Mitch Blackburn squared to bunt, pulled the bat back, and slashed a hard ground ball single to left field, scoring Castro to tie the game at two. Guy Willeford’s slow grounder two outs later brought home Vaughn with the go-ahead run.
Lavigne allowed three walks but no hits over the next four innings, holding the Broncos at bay in a one-run game through seven. In the 8th, Brandon Meredith bounced a homerun off the top of the center-field fence, his 5th of the year, to give SDSU a needed cushion. Santa Clara answered in their half of the inning, as Madden chased Lavigne with a leadoff double. Andrew Leary then gave up a single to Karcich and an RBI grounder from Geoff Klein, making it a 4-3 game. With two outs, Addison Reed came on to retire DH Chris Morton on a flyout to left to end the inning.
The 9th brought more drama, as the Aztecs failed to push across an insurance run despite getting a runner to 3rd base with one out. The bottom of the inning began with a groundout, then back-to-back singles from the 8-9 hitters in the Broncos’ order, Curtis Wagner and J.R. Graham. Reed knuckled down to strike out both Long and Madden, securing his 16th save in as many tries and a series win for SDSU. It was another clutch performance for a sophomore reliever who is keeping it simple on the mound.
“To be honest, I don’t try to think too much about the situation,” said Reed, “I just try to take every pitch the same, and not put too much pressure on any pitch, because when you start thinking, it’s bad news.”
It’s only been good news for the Aztecs when Reed is on the mound to close out a game. Now, he and the rest of the team are feeling better about their chances to run the table.
“If we can finish up strong, these next six conference games are huge. We just need to take it one game at a time. We’re all feeling pretty good, and our team camaraderie from last year is much better. Last year with about 15 games to go, it seemed like everybody just died, they weren’t as into it as they are this year. This year’s 100 percent different. Everyone’s into it, and if someone’s tired they’re not showing it, and you can tell this team wants to win.”
– Elsten
