It has been a rough first 17 games for the Aztecs (4-13), and the struggles reared their heads once again in a 8-5 loss to Northeastern (8-5) Sunday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Head coach Shaun Cole gave pitcher Garvey Rumary the start to close out the series. This is Rumary’s sixth appearance of the year, heading onto the mound with a 5.52 ERA in 14.2 innings pitched.
The time was now for SDSU, losing their last seven straight and holding a 4-12 record with conference play around the corner.
Northeastern picked up where they left off on Saturday, with a leadoff double and a bunt down the line putting runners on the corners with no outs. Infielder Jack Goodman did the damage, sending a sacrifice fly to deep left field, giving the Paws a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
A sign of life for the Aztec offense came in the bottom of the third. Infielder Daniel Arambula drew a walk, then catcher Evan Sipe put runners on the corners with no outs off a base hit. Outfielder Jonathan Smith took advantage and knotted the game at one apiece with an RBI double in the left field center field gap. Infielder Finley Bates did his job, recording a quality at bat and bringing in Sipe to go ahead 2-1 before Designated hitter Drew Rutter made it a three run inning with a bloop single to center field.
Northeastern struck back, loading the bases with no outs in the top of the fourth. At a point, the defenses’ woes became mental, as the repercussions of the frustrating 4-12 start reared their head with the infield recording an error and bringing in a Paws run, cutting the lead to 3-2.
The error ended Rumary’s day on the mound, recording 3.0 IP, allowing five hits, one walk, one hit batter and three earned runs. Replacing Rummary was pitcher Luka Pintar.
Pintar walked the first batter he faced, then hit the next one, bringing two free runs and putting Northeastern back ahead 4-3. Jonathan Smith saved the day, gunning a runner at home plate to end the inning and strand two runners on base.
Following the rough inning, Pintar found a groove and held the Paws to back to back scoreless innings. Unfortunately for Pintar, the SDSU offense followed the trend and went scoreless themselves, sending the game to the back third with the Northeastern lead still 4-3.
Pintar’s day ended in the top of the seventh inning, being replaced by pitcher Issac Araiza. Pintar tallied 3.1 IP, allowing zero earned runs with two hits and two walks.
“He’s a strike thrower, sometimes we just have to remind him of that,” said Cole on Pintar’s outing. “It was good to see him eat up those innings, disappointing that we have some older guys come in after him and not fill up the strike zone.’
Araiza walked batters into a bases loaded with two outs situation. Araiza added onto Shaun Cole’s headache of a pitching staff performance thus far, walking a batter and giving up yet another free run, the third run of the game walked in with the bases loaded.
The collapse continued, as pitcher Chris Canavan came in for Araiza and immediately hit a batter, giving yet another free run and setting the lead to 6-3.
Faced with adversity and a silenced crowd, the Scarlet and Black showed fight in the bottom of the seventh. Outfielder Zane Kelly singled to right field before being sent to third off a Daniel Arambula base hit. Sipe added onto his productive day at the plate, lining a RBI single into left field, cutting the deficit to two.
Finley Bates executed once again, recording his second quality at bat for an RBI that cut the deficit to just one run.
Xavier Cardenas took the mound for SDSU in the eighth, looking to keep the deficit as just one. The Paws jumped on Cardenas in the form of a Cam Maldonado two-run home-run, pushing Northeastern’s lead back to 8-5.
The bomb from Northeastern was enough insurance to hand SDSU their eighth consecutive loss and fourth of the series.
Next up for SDSU is San Jose State, beginning their conference play on Friday at 6 p.m. in Tony Gwynn Stadium.
“There should be [A sense of urgency],” said Cole on the mindset of his players going into the SJSU series.
