San Diego State men’s baseball lost its second game in a doubleheader against Fresno State at Pete Beiden Field in Fresno on March 3.
With this loss, the Aztecs drop the three-game series against their Mountain West Conference opponent.
This was the first conference matchup for either team this season. The Aztecs begin the year 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference while the Bulldogs are now 2-1.
Xavier Cardenas was the starting pitcher for SDSU while Jack Anker started for Fresno State. Anker quickly worked a 1-2-3 first inning against the Aztecs.
The Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first inning after a leadoff double by Eddie Saldivar and was eventually driven home on an RBI groundout by Fresno State infielder Murf Gray. Both teams’ offense went quiet behind Cardenas and Anker’s pitching.
SDSU got its first hit of the game in the top of the third inning after a leadoff single by Tino Bethancourt, but the Aztecs still failed to score him. The score was still 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth when Bulldogs player Rocco Peppi hit a solo home run to extend their lead.
Fresno State continued their rally in the fourth after back-to-back RBI doubles by Tyler Davis and Michael McKernan, respectively. The Bulldogs led 4-0 at the end of the fourth inning.
Anker continued to shut down the Aztecs’ offense while Cardenas began to show signs of struggle during the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth, Cardenas allowed two more baserunners via single and hit-by-pitch and was then pulled for relief pitcher Aidan Russell.
Russell threw an HBP to his first batter, Peppi, to load the bases and would then surrender a walk to Ben Newton to walk in a run for Fresno State. The Bulldogs now led 5-0 at the end of the fifth.
SDSU failed to score in the top of the sixth and they made another pitching change in the bottom half of the inning. Jadon Bercovich came in for the Aztecs but then surrendered a home run by Saldivar to make it a 6-0 lead for the Bulldogs.
The Aztecs finally got on the board in the top of the seventh after a leadoff double by Irvin Weems and followed by an RBI by Bethancourt, the score was now 6-1.
However, SDSU failed to mount another run as Fresno State began to open the game up in the bottom of the seventh.
Bercovich would give up a one-out double to pinch hitter Marco Pirruccello, who was then driven home by Newton after an RBI single. Bercovich then proceeded to load the bases before walking Saldivar to bring in another run.
Bercovich then hit the next batter, Tommy Hopfe, to bring in another run. Bercovich was substituted by Evan Miranda. Three runs were allowed by SDSU in the seventh, which extended Fresno’s lead to 9-1.
Victor Arreola relieved Anker in the top of the eighth and pitched another 1-2-3 inning against SDSU. Miranda returned for the bottom of the eighth and would give up a single and a walk to Grady Morgan and Rocco Peppi, respectively.
Miranda threw a wild pitch to Pirruccello to advance both runners into scoring position. Pirruccello then singled into right field to bring in both runners to extend the Bulldog lead to 11-1 and promptly end the game via the mercy rule.
The mercy rule comes into effect after the seventh inning when the winning team is up by seven runs. However, it’s only applied in the final game of a conference series.
Cardenas was credited with the loss after going 4 ⅓ innings, gave up six hits, five earned runs and struck out four batters. Anker was credited with the win after going 7 innings giving up only four hits, one earned run and eight strikeouts.
With this loss, San Diego State falls to 4-7 to start the season and are 1-2 in conference play.
Their next game will be against the University of San Diego on Tuesday, March 5 at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
