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Four-for-Four Aztecs to face UNLV Saturday at 3 p.m..
May 23, 2003
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Two-time defending MWC Tournament champion BYU was eliminated from this year's conference tournament after falling to No. 2 seed San Diego State 15-7. The Aztecs make their fourth straight trip to the MWC Tournament finals and will face No. 1 seed UNLV at 3 p.m. Saturday at Isotopes Park. The teams would also play at 7 p.m. Saturday if SDSU defeats UNLV. The Aztecs (29-31) banged out 17 hits, six of the extra base variety, while the Cougars (30-24) had 13 hits of their own. But BYU couldn't match the overall offensive firepower of San Diego State, which took its second win over BYU in as many days. Earlier in the day, the Aztecs dropped a 13-1 game to UNLV, then met BYU in the late game. The Cougars eliminated Utah, 7-6 in Friday's 3 p.m. contest to gain a rematch with the Aztecs.
Junior pitcher Daryl Harang (1-1) got the win for SDSU in his third start of the year while freshman Clayton Barnes (1-1) took the loss for BYU. Ben Leuthard earned his first save of the year for pitching three innings of scoreless relief.
The Cougars kicked off the scoring in the top of the 1st inning, as Doug Jackson drew a lead off walk then scored on Ryan Chambers' long single to right field. The Aztecs countered in the bottom frame, with a two-run double by Josh Allen and a two-run single by Curt Mendoza, to pull San Diego State ahead by a 4-1 count. BYU kept up the scoring in the 2nd inning as Jake Stubblefield started with a single and Brock Jacobsen followed with a long ball into right center field for an RBI triple. Rob Itri brought Jacobsen home to make the score 4-3 and he later scored on an error to tie the game up at 4-4. The Cougars finally retook the lead when Kevin Bills scored on Ryan Chambers' fielder's choice. SDSU put seven more runs on the board in the third, punctuated by a solo home run off the scoreboard by Garrett Cook, RBIs by Kyle Floquet and Jordan Swaydan, and Cook's subsequent two-run double, to log the highest-scoring half inning by any team thus far in the tournament and an 11-5 lead. Tyler Heid came on in relief for BYU in the 5th and the Aztecs continued their torrid pace, hitting four straight singles off of the freshman right hander and scoring two runs to make the score 13-5. The Cougars struck back in the bottom frame, as Jackson blooped a single into right field and was plated on Ranger Wiens' RBI triple to make the score 13-6. Wiens would score on Obrey's ground out to bring the Cougars to within 13-7, but that is as close as they would get. |
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