To wrap up the MLB Desert Invitational, San Diego State was defeated by the No. 24 University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, 13-0. 

It was the third and final game of the tournament with the Aztecs splitting the first two games, a win against Seton Hall and a loss to Grand Canyon University. 

Shortstop Finley Bates, a member of the preseason all-Mountain West team, led off the game with a quick ground out to Nebraska pitcher Will Walsh. While second baseman Nevan Noonan got the offense started for the Aztecs with a single to left field, the offense would end there with center fielder Jake Jackson flying out to center and designated hitter CJ Moran grounding out to second base.

Pitcher Marko Sipila was on the mound for his first-ever start with the Aztecs after transferring from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. The first pitch he threw was hit hard to the right field corner for a triple and Nebraska would take an early 1-0 lead after a sacrifice fly to center field. 

Nebraska shortstop Dylan Carey hit the ball to third baseman Daniel Arambula, however, he was unable to transfer the ball from glove to hand and Carey reached first safely. First baseman Case Sanderson hit the ball to Noonan, but his throwing error on a tough play got past first baseman Drew Rutter allowed the runners to advance to second and third. 

Sipila was able to storm back and limit the damage with two strikeouts to end the inning. 

Arambula led off the top of the second with a high fly-out to the first baseman and right fielder Zane Kelly reached base safely on a single to left field. That was all the offense for the Aztecs as left fielder Jonathan Smith struck out and catcher Gage Adams grounded out to the shortstop. 

The first two Nebraska batters reached base safely after a lead-off single and a fielder’s choice to Bates whose throw to second was not in time. Nebraska center fielder Riley Silva laid a perfect bunt down the third base side to allow both runners and himself to reach first safely to load the bases. 

Nebraska would break the game open with a two-run double to left field to take a 3-0 lead with still no outs. While the Aztecs would get the first out of the inning on a ground out to Noonan, the Cornhuskers would get a run to extend the lead to 4-0. The second out of the inning came on a fly out to Kelly, but the runner on third tagged in the process to get their fourth run in the bottom of the second. Sipila got the final batter of the inning to ground out to Noonan to end a rough second inning for the Aztecs. 

The third was another quiet inning for the Aztec offense with Rutter striking out, Bates drawing a walk and both Noonan and Jackson flying out. 

Sipila remained on the mound for the third inning after a rough first two innings and got a key strikeout on the lead-off batter. However, the next three batters reached base on a walk then two straight hit-by-pitches to load the bases. Nebraska would take advantage of this and get their sixth run of the game on an RBI groundout to Rutter. 

Sipila hit his third batter of the game to load the bases for the second time of the inning, this would end Sipila’s first start as an Aztec as Chris Canada would pitch in relief for him. Canada limited the damage on a fly-out to Kelly to end the third inning. 

For the fourth straight inning for the Aztecs, the first batter got out and the second batter reached base safely on a Moran strikeout and Arambula single. Kelly grounded into a fielder’s choice to second, who tagged out Arambula, for the second out. San Diego’s bats would remain quiet as Smith struck out to end the inning. 

Canada would walk the first batter in the bottom of the fourth and as he struck out the next batter, the runner at first would successfully steal second on the play. The second out of the inning was on a ground out to Noonan and the runner at second advanced to third on the slow roller. 

He would hit the following batter to put runners on the corners for Nebraska with two outs but bounced back with a strikeout to end the inning without allowing a run. 

The top of the fifth inning for the Aztecs started with two quick outs on Adams flying out to first and Rutter grounding out to third. Bates would leg out an infield single, but San Diego would still be looking for sustained offense as Noonan flew out to center field. 

Evan Miranda would come in relief for Canada and get the first batter to line out to Jackson. While Miranda got a glove on a ground ball to him in the next at-bat, it bounced off the top of the glove to Noonan, but his throw to first was just not in time. 

Miranda would get a key strikeout for the second out of the inning, but he gave up a two-run home run to the next batter to give Nebraska an 8-0 lead in the fifth. The pitching struggles continued for the Aztecs as the next two batters walked, but Miranda would storm back with a strikeout for the final out of the fifth. 

For the fifth inning of the game, the top of the sixth for the Aztecs had a quick first out, a batter reaching base safely, followed by two quick outs to end the inning. 

Alito McBean would be the fourth pitcher in six innings for San Diego as they were still searching for a way to silence the Nebraska offense. The freshman pitcher had a phenomenal college debut by getting a one-two-three inning on a ground out right to him followed by Noonan catching two pop-outs, including a stellar over-the-shoulder catch. 

Sammy Kahler pinch-hit for Smith and made a strong impact by hitting an infield single, however, Adams immediately grounded into a double play. Rutter struck out to end the inning as Walsh continued his dominating pitching performance against the Aztecs with seven shutout innings. 

McBean stayed on the mound for the bottom of the seventh and while he got two quick outs on a pop out to Arambula and ground out to Noonan, the next three batters reached base on a walk, single to left and a hit by pitch. Nebraska would take every advantage of the bases-loaded opportunity with a two-run single up the middle for a 10-0 lead. 

Arambula made an excellent diving stop to prevent the ball from reaching the outfield but his throw got past Rutter, allowing a run to score and runners to advance to second and third. Another infield single on the next at-bat for Nebraska would give them a 12-0 lead. McBean’s first ever college outing would end here as he would be replaced by Thomas Young. 

Young’s first college outing started off by giving up an RBI single on his first pitch to give the Cornhuskers a 13-0 lead. This did not deter Young as he got the last batter of the inning to ground out to Bates. 

Walsh would be replaced by Carson Jasa in the top of the eighth after seven shutout innings. Evan Escobar pinch hit for Bates, but he struck out to lead off the inning. Hank Tripaldi came in for Noonan and hit a single to right field. 

In another move to get players on the bench for some at-bats, Dillon Marrisett pinch hit for Jackson and drew a walk to have runners on first and second, the first time they had two runners on the base all game. Josh Quezada pinch-hit for Moran, but the inning ended after he grounded out into a double play. 

Chris Canavan started the bottom of the eighth for the Aztecs, the sixth pitcher of the game for San Diego. He had a quick one-two-three inning by getting the lead-off batter to line out to Tripaldi and striking out the last two batters. 

The Aztecs faced a huge deficit as they were down to their final three outs in the top of the ninth. Arambula kicked off the ninth with an infield single, but that was all the offense San Diego could muster as Cody Liscio, who replaced Kelly, reached base on a fielder’s choice that got Arambula out, Kahler struck out, and Adams grounded out to end the game. 

San Diego State falls to 1-2 following the 13-0 blowout loss while Nebraska improves to 2-1. Walsh gets credit for the win in a stellar seven-inning shutout outing allowing only five hits and striking out six. Sipila got credit for the loss as he pitched two and one-thirds innings, allowing six runs, giving up five hits and striking out three.