Powered by an early home run from junior left fielder Adam Magpoc and an eight-strikeout start from junior right-hander Drew Talavs, San Diego State rolled past Long Island 12-5 on Saturday.
“I thought we played the game the right way. It’s fun to watch,” head coach Kevin Vance said. “The guys are playing hard, hustle doubles, running hard on the bases, taking the extra base and doing things the right way. So obviously I’m happy with the result, but happier with how we did it.”
Talavs made his first start with the Aztecs, while righty Justin DeCastro started for the Sharks.
Magpoc opened the scoring with a two-run homer deep to right field, his first as an Aztec, capping it with an electric bat flip. The Sharks got a run back in the second, but Talavs limited the damage.
In the bottom of the inning, freshman designated hitter Nate Lopez got his first collegiate hit on a single up the left side. The Aztecs extended their lead to 5-1 following freshman first baseman Max Farrell’s two-run triple, who then scored on Magpoc’s single to left.
SDSU struck for two more insurance runs in the fourth as junior second baseman Dawson Santana scored on a wild pitch and Farrell scored on senior third baseman Tyce Peterson’s RBI double up the middle.
While the Aztecs’ offense was potent through the first half of the game, Talavs did his job as well, with eight strikeouts over his five innings of work and giving up two runs.
Santana hit a two-run single up the right side to increase the lead to 9-2 in the bottom of the fifth. He was originally called out for stealing second, but Vance challenged the call, and it was overturned.
The decision proved to be vital as Santana took advantage of a slow roller hit by Farrell to the left side and scored from second, while Farrell advanced to second on a throwing error to home.
Both junior right-handed pitchers Evan Miranda and Simon Lemke pitched scoreless innings in relief in the sixth and seventh.
Sophomore lefty Alito McBean relieved Lemke at the top of the eighth, but he gave up three runs, cutting the game to 10-5.
The Aztecs’ base running was nothing short of phenomenal this game, as Farrell extended a single into a double, then advanced to third on a balk. Justice made up for his throwing error the previous inning with a two-run double to left field to extend the lead to 12-5.
Senior righty Issac Araiza was brought in to close the game, and he slammed the door shut, striking out two to seal the victory.
“I think we learned a lot yesterday, we had some first-game jitters, where we didn’t play the cleanest game, but we came out today,” Santana said. “We were solid through the first six innings. We played really good baseball, but we kind of let off the gas late.”
The Aztecs moved to 2-0 with the win, marking the first time since 2021 that they did so, with Talavs earning his first-ever win with the Aztecs.
“[First win] feels good,” Talavs said. “I give a lot of credit to Long Island; those guys can swing, and I know they’ve been practicing in the cold for the last month, so props to them. Pitching is definitely easier when you have a great defense behind you, and all eight guys out there played great.”
On Sunday, the Aztecs went to battle against the Sharks one last time, hoping to complete a potential three-game sweep.
Through the first couple of innings, both redshirt sophomore Carson Johnson and the LIU starter James Lordi were unhittable. The first hit of the game changed the scoreboard with Santana scorching a ball over the left field fence to put the Aztecs up 1-0 at the end of the 3rd.
However, after Santana’s blast, offense was hard to come by once again, with both pitchers cruising and getting out of tough jams.
In due time, the Aztecs exploded for four runs coming off two mammoth homers: a solo shot from catcher Gage Adams and a two-run opposite field blast from senior Tyce Peterson.
When looking at the Aztec lineup, you wouldn’t expect power and strength, but head coach Kevin Vance isn’t surprised by the power on display at all.
“Yeah, I think we expected it. These guys have been hitting homers all preseason and that obviously helped a lot today, winning us the game,” said Vance.
Carson Johnson finished his first collegiate start after the seventh inning, striking out 11 batters, with 8 of them being swinging.
The Aztec win would not come easily, however, as LIU came storming back, just as in the first game of the series. The Sharks scored 4 runs in the top of the 8th, the biggest coming from Noah Sorensen, who scorched a double down the left field line to drive in two.
With the Aztecs being unable to score in the bottom half of the inning, it would take a shutdown ninth to put the game to a close. Senior pitcher Aidan Russell ran into some trouble early, giving up a leadoff double. He struck out two in a row but it wasn’t enough as Nicholas Delvecchio poked one to the left to tie the game at 5 apiece.
Thankfully, shortstop Jabin Trosky set the tone in the Aztec half of the ninth with a double to right field. After great at-bats from Nate Lopez and Drew Rutter, Zane Kelly came up with the bases loaded for a chance to walk it off.
After taking a giant hack at the first pitch, Kelly shot the next one past the dive of the first baseman to complete the 3 game sweep for the Aztecs. After a battle-tested stretch of games, Vance had nothing but praise to say for both teams.
“LIU is a really good team. I think they’re going to win a lot of games, so they tested us in a lot of ways, but I think we got better this weekend,” said Vance.
It appears that this program is heading in the right direction, as it has achieved its first 3-0 start since 2018. SDSU will look to win once again on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at UC Irvine.
