In the second game of the Tony Gwynn Legacy weekend, the San Diego State Aztecs were defeated by the University of Utah Utes by a score of 8-0.

Pitcher Omar Serrano was selected to be the game’s starter by head coach Shaun Cole. Serrano emerged as San Diego’s Friday night starter after a strong end to last season and is making his second start of the season.

The right-hander went 3.2 innings in his first start, allowing six hits, five runs, and two walks, while striking out five for a no-decision.

Serrano had a strong start to the inning with two quick outs, but two runners reached following a single to left and a walk, which has been a constant problem for the Aztec pitching staff in the early season.

The Utes took advantage of the opportunity with right fielder Kaden Carpenter hitting an RBI single to left field to open the score 1-0. Serrano would limit the damage thereafter second baseman Nevan Noonan made a diving stop and got Carpenter out at second.

Utah right-handed pitcher Colter McAnelly struck out the side in the bottom of the first in a quiet inning for the Aztec bats with only center fielder Jake Jackson reaching on a fielding error.

After allowing a double down the left field line with one out, Serrano stormed back to strike out the last two Utah batters to end the top of the second.

Right fielder Zane Kelly carried his stellar 4-5 game last night into this game by roping a one-out double down the right-field line for a key runner in scoring position. He would be stranded as McAnelly struck out the final two batters to strike out the side for the second straight inning.

“[Kelly] is doing a great job,” Cole said. “We’re not going to say much, just let him keep doing what he’s doing. He’s also playing great defense.”

In the top of the third, Serrano got two quick outs with a fly out and ground out, but Utah would double their lead following back-to-back doubles with Carpenter getting his second RBI of the night. That would be all the offense for Utah in the third as a ground out to shortstop Finley Bates would end the inning there.

The Aztec bats continued to struggle against McAnelly as he got a quick one-two-three inning in the bottom of the third, getting his seventh strike out of the game in just the third inning.

Serrano allowed a lead-off single to start the fourth but stormed back to get two groundouts. However, Utah continued to have clutch hitting with two outs, and they got an RBI single up the right side to make it 3-0. All of their runs had occurred on hits with two outs; however, that was it, as the next batter popped out to third.

In the fourth, designated hitter CJ Moran would get the second hit of the game for the Aztecs on a one-out single to right. That would be it for the offense as McAnelly retired the next two batters to continue his strong start through four innings.

Serrano remained on the mound for his fifth and final inning of work, quickly striking out the first two batters. The Utes continued to hit him hard with two outs as Carpenter walked, then stole second, and was driven home on a single to right to make it 4-0. An RBI double on the next at-bat would extend the lead to 5-0 for Utah.

That would be Serrano’s final batter of the game as he would be relieved by left-hander Garvey Rumary. He finished the night with 4.2 innings pitched, allowing nine hits, six runs, two walks, and striking out five with 109 pitches.

Rumary walked the first batter he faced and hit the second to load the bases for Utah. The walks continued to be a nightmare for the Aztec pitching as he would walk a run. The inning would finally end on a fly out to Jackson as Utah scored three runs, to further extend their lead to 6-0, all with two outs.

San Diego’s bats would remain ice cold against McAnelly as they struggled to find sustained offense through five innings with only three batters reaching base.

The Aztec pitching continued to struggle in the sixth inning, with Rumary allowing a double to left fielder Jake Long. Carpenter got his third hit of the game on a single up the middle to make it a 7-0 lead for Utah for his third RBI. The lefty would get out of the jam with his first strikeout of the game to close out the top of the sixth.

McAnelly’s stellar pitching continued to silence the Aztecs through six strong innings by getting three ground outs. Jackson would get the only hit of the inning for San Diego on a single up the middle, but he would be stranded.

The left-hander stayed on the mound in the top of the seventh and had a much-needed rebound inning, striking out two batters and allowing only one hit.

Kelly would continue to be a strong factor on offense for San Diego by drawing a four-pitch walk with one out. Catcher Evan Sipe hit a single to right, advancing Kelly to third to put runners on the corners for the Aztecs with two outs. The scoring threat would end there with first baseman Drew Rutter grounding out and having San Diego still searching for their first run of the game against McAnelly.

Utah scored their eighth run of the game in the eighth inning following two doubles to right, with Carpenter getting another RBI double. He continued to be a thorn in the side of the Aztecs pitching with a 4-4 game and four RBIs. Rumary would come back with two flyouts to right for the final two outs to close out the inning.

Right-hander Lucas Boesen replaced McAnelly in the eighth who finished his outing with seven innings pitched, allowing four hits, no runs, one walk, and striking out 10 on 98 pitches. The righty would continue the momentum from McAnelly with a one-two-three inning.

Rumary continued to pitch in the top of the ninth and repeated his strong performance in the previous inning with three straight outs after allowing a lead-off walk. He would finish the game with 4.1 innings pitched giving up five hits, two runs, walking, and striking out three on 80 pitches.

“That was huge not having to use any other arms,” Cole said. “We have two more games [this weekend] and we got a Tuesday game too. So he did a good job and I thought he did better as the game went on”

With the Aztecs down to their final three outs in the bottom of the ninth, they would go down quietly in order to drop the game by a score of 8-0. Boesen pitched two innings, allowing no hits, runs, or walks and striking out three on 23 pitches.

The Utes scored eight runs on 14 hits with one error to improve to 5-0 while the Aztecs had no runs on four hits to drop to 3-3. McAnelly was credited with the win to move to 1-0 while Serrano got the loss to fall to 0-1.

The Scarlet and Black aim to bounce back on Saturday night against UCSB at 6 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.