On the back of an eight-game winning streak, SDSU went into a pivotal weekend series a half-game back of the Mountain West Conference-leading Nevada.
After a successful sweep of the Wolf Pack this weekend, the Aztecs now lead the Mountain West by a game and a half, with three conference games in hand, heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
Jake Jackson plays hero in 7-3 win with a walk-off grand slam
Clutch hitting and dominant starting pitching have been the keys for the Aztecs in tightly contested games. Friday night was no different as junior starter Rohan Lettow’s (4-1, 3.88 ERA) 12-strikeout performance and junior centerfielder Jake Jackson’s walk-off grand slam helped the Scarlet and Black stun the Nevada Wolf Pack, 7-3, in the first game of the series.
Rohan continued his solid junior campaign by turning in a stellar 6 1/3 innings performance, striking out a dozen whilst holding the Wolf Pack to only three runs. The Aztecs took advantage of his outing, jumping out to a 3-0 lead as they tagged senior starter Aidan Brainard (5-2, 4.65 ERA) for three runs (two earned) over five innings of work.
“We leaned on his curveball a little bit more since it was working well today and with him having six pitches, it’s hard to hit when you really don’t know what’s coming,” head coach Kevin Vance said of Rohan’s performance and the quality of his pitches.
However, despite the dominant outing by Rohan, the Wolf Pack tagged him for three runs in the top of the seventh inning on a pair of singles, chasing Lettow from the game and forcing the Aztecs to turn to the bullpen to get the final out of the inning.
Although the Scarlet and Black never once backed down after losing the lead late in the game, the Aztecs needed a hero in the late innings after their eighth-inning rally was ended.
Their prayers were answered only an inning later, during the bottom of the ninth after a leadoff hit-by-pitch, a double and an intentional walk loaded the bases for Jackson with no outs.
He came through as the hero, smacking a walk-off grand slam deep into the night, sending both the crowd and dugout into a frenzy.
“For me, it was staying short to the ball. I couldn’t let the moment get too big because then it created unwanted pressure that I didn’t need,” Jackson said of his approach heading into the game, winning at-bat.
Zane Kelly’s two-run double leads the Aztecs to an 8-5 win
Resiliency and grit are the mantras for SDSU this season after another comeback win with late-inning heroics on Saturday night. This time, it was right fielder Zane Kelly’s time to shine with a go-ahead two-RBI double to right-center field in the bottom of the eighth to give the Aztecs a 6-5 lead over Nevada.
Jackson continued his stellar weekend with a two-run double of his own to pad the lead and righty Carson Johnson slammed the door home in the ninth to seal an 8-5 Aztecs’ victory and 10th victory in a row.
“We’re on a heater here,” Vance said. “We’ve won a bunch of games in a row, but maybe one of them felt easy, and that’s baseball. We’ve been able to stick to it in the trenches with our guys, that’s the fun stuff.”
The Scarlet and Black tagged Wolf Pack starter Ryan Oakes (2-0, 3.79 ERA) early with two runs in the bottom of the first, but SDSU’s Drew Talavs (3-3, 6.93 ERA) also struggled. His outing lasted just 2.2 innings, and he allowed two runs on four hits with two walks and no strikeouts.
Righty Bryce McKnight took over in a precarious situation with bases loaded and two outs, and a wild pitch led to a tie game, but he stormed back to get out of it. He proved to be a reliable option throughout the middle innings, with 4.1 innings pitched, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits, while striking out five.
After Johnson took over in the eighth, Wolf Pack left fielder Jackson Waller scored on catcher Jake Harvey’s double to left-center field to give Nevada a late 5-4 lead, before SDSU stormed back with four runs in the bottom of the inning.
Johnson earned the win in his two innings out of the pen, giving up one run on three hits and two strikeouts.
“We know they’re talented, and they got their guys, but we’re a great team and ready to go,” Kelly said. “We want this sweep tomorrow.”
Nate Lopez’s first career homer sparks rally in 8-2 series finale win
A combination of timely hitting, extraordinary defense and perfectly executed baserunning led to the Aztecs completing a series sweep of the Nevada Wolf Pack.
After scoring a flurry of runs in the middle innings, the bullpen duo of Simon Lemke and Connor Abadie shut down the fierce Nevada offense to complete an 8-2 victory.
The biggest takeaway: production from the bottom of the lineup. The six through nine hitters, Adam Magpoc, Reeve Boyd, Nate Lopez and Zane Kelly, combined for four hits, two home runs and five RBI’s.
“It takes everybody,” Vance said. “Everyone’s got to get better and be ready for their opportunity.”
Vance’s words, in particular, were targeted toward the freshman third baseman Nate Lopez, who stepped in place of the Aztecs’ home run leader Tyce Peterson, due to injury. In his first at-bat on Sunday, Lopez crushed his first collegiate home run in the third inning, igniting an offensive spark in his team’s dugout that elongated into the next inning.
SDSU went off for five runs in the fourth, the most notable coming from a three-run blast to right by Kelly. Hitting for pop has been an extremely enticing aspect of the Aztecs this year, as after this series, they now have hit over fifty home runs as a team.
However, the longball is not the only catalyst driving this team to success.
As Coach Vance said, “We’re sticking with the process. That’s the most important thing. Little things make big things happen.”
Stealing bases, avoiding errors and making the right pitches at the right times have been the most influential factors enabling the Aztecs to thrive.
The flawless win gives the Aztecs an 11-game winning streak and sole possession of first place in the Mountain West, as they head into a non-conference, crosstown matchup against the UC San Diego Tritons on Tuesday, May 5.
