With runners on first and second in the bottom of the eighth, junior center fielder Jake Jackson delivered the night’s biggest swing, crushing a go-ahead, three-run home run that electrified Tony Gwynn Stadium and gave San Diego State baseball a 13-10 lead on Wednesday night.
“It was a tie game and full count,” Jackson said. “I just wanted to put the ball in play and move guys over, then the homer was just a result of the swing … I just tried to stay really simple and short.”
Junior right-hander Evan Miranda surrendered a leadoff walk in the ninth, but he slammed the door shut, striking out three straight Long Beach State batters to secure the win.
The victory capped a back-and-forth contest that featured four lead changes and a barrage of home runs from both teams.
Back in the second, Dirtbag third baseman Dylan Lina launched his second long ball of the night, a grand slam to left field that erased an Aztecs lead and tied the game at eight. The swing came after SDSU starter Bryce McKnight, a junior right-hander, battled through a bases-loaded jam following a fielding error from Tyce Peterson, but issued a walk before Lina homered.
“McKnight had probably the most unlucky outing I’ve ever seen,” head coach Kevin Vance said. “There were a lot of cheap hits, but that’s part of it, and you just got to keep going; these games happen. You’ve got to just stick to your principles, which is 0-2, 1-2 or die trying.”
Despite the momentum swing, the Aztecs’ pitching staff steadied in the middle innings. McKnight bounced back with a scoreless third inning before senior right-hander Issac Araiza and junior Simon Lemke pitched a combined three strong innings. However, Araiza gave up a game-tying solo home run to make it a 9-9 game in the fifth after Jackson gave SDSU the lead on an RBI-single the previous inning.
Junior lefty Connor Abadie faced trouble in his two innings of work, allowing a go-ahead run in the seventh, but got out of a two-on jam in the top of the eighth, capping it off with an emotional strikeout.
The offensive explosions started much earlier in the game as Long Beach struck first when Lina crushed a three-run home run deep to left field in the opening inning. But the Aztecs answered immediately with an offensive explosion of their own.
Sophomore catcher Zach Justice flipped the momentum with a grand slam to left-center field. Moments later, sophomore designated hitter Anthony Marnell IV added a two-run single to extend the lead. An error by the Dirtbags’ second baseman allowed another run to score, pushing SDSU’s advantage even further.
The Aztecs kept the pressure on. Sophomore left fielder Adam Magpoc stole second base and later scored on junior shortstop Jabin Trosky’s opposite-field single, stretching the lead to 8-3.
Lina and the Dirtbag offense were not phased by the Aztecs’ offensive onslaught and continued to crawl back. They even took a lead late until Jackson’s home run put the game to rest.
SDSU improved to 8-5 with the 13-10 win, while Long Beach fell to 4-8. Abadie earned his first career win with the Scarlet and Black, while Miranda got his first save of the season.
“We obviously went down 3-0 in the first, and we’ve been in that position before,” Vance said. “We’ve talked a lot about sticking to our approach no matter what and stringing together good at-bats, which led to success later.”
The Aztecs play next on March 6 at 6 p.m. to open a three-game weekend series against Saint Mary’s at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
