After sweeping San Jose State (13-23, 3-10 Mountain West) with a 9-8 win Sunday afternoon, San Diego State (26-14, 13-3 Mountain West) has now won 11 of their last 12 games and remains one of the hottest teams in softball. 

Getting ahead has been the Aztecs’ bread and butter this year. They struck first in the top of the second inning with RBIs from outfielder Macey Keester and infielder Mac Barbara to take a 2-0 lead. 

Barbara was dominant for SDSU, finishing her day 3-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. The junior from Long Beach currently leads the starters in almost every offensive stat including batting average, slugging and OPS. 

Despite the early offensive surge from SDSU, the Spartans responded with five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take a 5-2 lead in the first of many lead changes. 

SDSU retook the lead with a huge fourth inning, putting up five runs of their own. Infielder Katie Goldberg, designated hitter Alyssa Garcia, outfielder Angie Yellen and Barbara all had an RBI during the rally to put the Aztecs up 7-5.

San Jose State responded immediately with a three-run inning to flip the lead to 8-7 in the bottom of the fifth. 

Yellen led off the top of the seventh inning with a much-needed single. One baserunner was all SDSU needed as they bunted her over the next at-bat to get her in scoring position. The Aztecs continued playing small ball with another sacrifice bunt to move Yellen to third base. 

After an intentional walk and two errors by the Spartans, SDSU retook the lead for the final time. Pitcher Cece Cellura came into the game in the bottom of the seventh to put San Jose away and secure her fourth save of the season. 

The Scarlet and Black were tough outs all night. Garcia went 2-4, Yellen also finished 2-4 with two RBIs and infielder Makena Brocki finished 3-4. 

The Aztecs currently sit at the top of the Mountain West standings with an impressive 13-3 conference record. 

Their next match-up will be against another conference opponent at home against Nevada on Friday at 6 p.m.