“Small ball” in baseball is not always the flashiest way to win games; instead, it relies on the team staying in sync with every single at-bat. It can be a succession of sacrifice bunts, singles or any other way that moves runners over to scoring position so a hit can drive them home.
As San Diego State baseball defeated Cal State Fullerton 5-3 to extend its winning streak to eight games, small ball was the name of the game on Tuesday night.
After the Titans extended their lead to 2-0 at the top of the fourth, two walks from juniors Jake Jackson and Dawson Santana put the tying runners on base with no outs. Junior Jabin Trosky laid down a sacrifice bunt towards first to move them both over and into scoring position. Freshman Max Farrell followed that up with a bunt of his own, but in the perfect spot in between the pitcher and first base, which not only drove home Santana, but also allowed Farrell to reach first safely.
“Some of our biggest innings have started with a sac bunt,” head coach Kevin Vance said. “When you accomplish something positive, it keeps [the rally] rolling, so when a guy gets over, the dugout loves it, and it’s a win for us.”
Jackson scored on the next at-bat on an RBI-ground out to tie the game at 2.
“We’ve had the long ball come and save us some games, but executing those little things makes big things happen,” Vance said. “Then we have a better chance at doing it again, and we get momentum from it.”
After the Titans regained the lead in the top half of the fifth, SDSU took its first lead of the game with a very similar playbook. Catcher Gage Adams singled to the right-field gap, and he took advantage of a fielding error to advance to second, which has been another fundamental that Vance and his staff have preached to the players: finding any way they can to advance 90 feet.
Senior Tyce Peterson drove Adams home on a single to right, and Peterson advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Santana’s single to left field in the next at-bat.
This was Adams’ seventh game of the season as the backup catcher behind sophomore Zach Justice. Yet, even in limited playing time, Adams has found ways to produce and make an impact, hitting .455 and extending his hitting streak to four games with a three-hit night.
“In the past, I would worry about a lot of uncontrollables, such as not being in the lineup, and I think that would carry over to when I did get my chance,” Adams said. “I am thankful for the staff and teammates that we have, and the results are good when I stay positive and just be a good teammate.”
However, the aggressive base running can sometimes backfire, as Santana was thrown out at home trying to score from first on Jackson’s double to left. Trosky and Farrell both walked to load the bases, and sophomore Anthony Marnell IV roped the ball to left field, but Hunt Meyer made a diving catch to end the inning and rob SDSU of multiple runs.
Junior righty Evan Miranda faced trouble in the top of the seventh, which was his third inning in relief, as he gave up a single, then a walk after he got two quick outs. With action in the bullpen and Vance making a mound visit, one would think that Vance had seen enough and would change pitchers; however, he calmed his reliever down and stuck with him.
“It’s just a little bit of regroup,” Vance said. “I don’t think I should take the credit, it is more of a timeout and mental breather, taking a deep breath and focusing on the bottom of the zone and getting after it.”
Three pitches later, Miranda got the next batter to ground out to Santana to end the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, Farrell doubled to right to put a potential insurance run in scoring position, and yet again, small ball was key to bringing him home. After a delayed steal to third, Farrell advanced to home on a throwing error by catcher Max Ortega to make it 5-3, which was all the offense the Aztecs could muster.
Senior right-hander Issac Araiza was tapped to close the game for the Aztecs, but he gave up a lead-off double to left field by Titan third baseman Esteban Olazaba. Araiza and the Aztecs caught a break as Olazaba made a poor base-running mistake, as he thought a fly out to right dropped, and he was thrown out trying to get back to second for a double play.
The righty struck out Meyer on a ball in the dirt to seal the victory for the Aztecs.
Miranda earned his first win of the season, and Araiza got his third save. With the win, SDSU improves to 29-18 and has its longest winning streak since 1997.
The Scarlet and Black are 0.5 games back of first place in the Mountain West, and they play first-place Nevada, which is also tied with Air Force, in a three-game set at Tony Gwynn Stadium starting on May 1 at 6 p.m.
