by Craig on March 10, 2010
Brandon Decker (SDSU photo)
LONG BEACH–Joey Terdaslovich’s pinch-hit single in the bottom of the 8th drove in the go-ahead run, and a San Diego State comeback attempt in the 9th was thwarted by a ill-timed pickoff, as Long Beach State (5-6) held off the Aztecs 4-3 Tuesday night at Blair Field.
SDSU (5-7) was held to five hits by a group of six LBSU hurlers on a “Johnny Wholestaff” night. Still, hope for a road win was there when struggling shortstop Brandon Decker (3-for-24, 0-for-3 in the game) was walked on five pitches by “Dirtbags” closer David Brown to start the 9th.
Decker was sacrificed to second base by Mitch Blackburn, and then committed a costly baserunning blunder, taking too large of a secondary lead. Brown spun and when he saw Decker jump the other way, he threw to second base and easily picked off the senior for the second out of the inning.
The mistake in a way served as a fitting end for a cold night in which execution was the key element of success. Long Beach State played little-ball to help lead to all of their four runs, while San Diego State took advantage of Dirtbag mistakes to score their three tallies. Continue Reading →
by Craig on March 1, 2010
Mitch Blackburn (SDSU photo)
LINDA VISTA–Down 4-0 in the 7th, and having been shut out for their last 16 innings, the San Diego State Aztecs rediscovered their offense at just the right time. The Aztecs scored four in the 7th and five in the 9th to cap a dramatic comeback at Cunningham Stadium, rallying past the 19th ranked USD Toreros for a 9-5 victory.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said head coach Tony Gwynn after the game, “they hung in there. It would have been easy to hang their heads after punching out (11) times, but they didn’t, they hung in there, and got some big hits in the 7th and 9th innings.”
USD starter Kyle Blair had the Aztecs twisted in knots through six, striking out 10 batters, with six caught looking. Even worse for SDSU, Blair walked four batters and hit another but none of those runners had come around to score.
The Toreros had built a 4-0 lead on a pair of run scoring hits by James Meador and some solid fundamental baseball. The Aztecs turned the game, and weekend series, around with big hits and great relief pitching.
Read more, and hear interviews with Tony Gwynn and Mitch Blackburn, after the jump:
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