By Joel SartanSenior Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — Pounding out 13 hits really should yield more thanthree runs. But that was all San Diego State scored Tuesday, fallingto Loyola Marymount 6-3.
“We got a lot of hits and runners in scoring position, but wedidn’t get them in,” left fielder Josh Hill said. “We got hits. Wejust didn’t get them when we really needed them.”
Hill had two hits for SDSU (10-6), including a fourth-inning RBIsingle to open the scoring for the Aztecs.
LMU (5-8) got on the board first, putting up two runs in the thirdoff SDSU starter Mike Moat. After second baseman Joe Silva led offwith a single, shortstop Billy Lockin was hit by a pitch — the firstof four Lions to take one for the team. A double from Kris Zacutodrove both home.
Zacuto drove in another run in the fifth for a 3-1 LMU lead.
“(Moat) didn’t have his best stuff,” said pitching coach RustyFilter. “Mike battled. Three runs in five innings isn’t bad.”
Three more runs in the last two innings were bad, however. But notuntil after the Aztecs had gotten back into the game.
Jon Stephens knocked in a run in the fifth to draw the game withina run. Then, catcher Josh Allen tied it with a run-scoring triple.
The Aztecs got two men on base in the seventh, but were unable totake their first lead of the game.
In the bottom of the inning, the Lions scratched out a run on arun-scoring grounder by Lockin.
SDSU got another runner in scoring position in the eighth, butagain didn’t cash in.
An error, a wild pitch and two hit batters in the eighth led totwo more insurance runs for LMU. Meanwhile, Kyle Huddy (1-0) finishedthe Aztecs off with three innings of scoreless relief to earn thewin. Erik Fiedler (0-1) took the loss.
“We couldn’t come up with the big hit when we needed it,” Allensaid.
Still, Allen said he feels confident in the team going into thisweekend’s series with Southern Utah.
“We swung well in Yuma (this weekend),” he said. “Hopefully we canput together more games like that and score some runs.”
Southern Utah opened the season with a 14-game losing streak.Saturday the Thunderbirds finally got into the win column with a 7-4victory over Utah.
SUU has a team batting average of .253, but has slugged 13 homeruns, six more than the Aztecs.
However, SDSU holds the edge in team ERA, 2.82 to 9.59.
