On the back of three home runs and a handful of pitchers, San Diego State baseball took down crosstown University of San Diego, 7-2, Tuesday night at Fowler Park.
The Aztecs have now won three in a row for the first time this season, following two straight wins against UNLV over the weekend to take the series.
Sophomore David Hensley got the party started in the second with a solo homer to left to open the scoring for both teams.
Sophomore Justin Wylie added a solo home run of his own in the seventh, and freshman Jordan Verdon added a three-run shot an inning later for SDSU’s final run.
Verdon led the team with three RBIs on the night.
Five pitchers entered the game for the Aztecs. Junior left-hander Dominic Purpura got the start and tossed four scoreless innings, allowing four hits.
Redshirt-senior right-hander Dalton Douty, junior right-hander Mike Diamond and senior right-hander Brian Heldman were on the hook for the runs, one each, while Douty (1-0) picked up his first win of the year.
Douty threw two innings, allowing one run and striking out none.
Heldman had two outs in the ninth before allowing a solo homer to USD freshman left fielder Kevin Collard to secure the final tally.
While five of SDSU’s runs came via the long ball, the Aztecs had to fight a little harder for the other two.
Redshirt-sophomore Tyler Adkison pushed across SDSU’s second run of the game following an error by USD junior first baseman Roman Garcia on a fielder’s choice off the bat of sophomore catcher Hunter Stratton.
Then in the sixth, junior third baseman Andrew Brown’s sacrifice fly scored redshirt-senior Spencer Thornton.
SDSU knocked around USD started, redshirt-senior right-hander Wes Judish, to the tune of four runs, all earned, on three hits through four innings of work. He did strike out five, though.
The Aztecs staved off a season sweep from USD with the win, as the Toreros won the previous two contests, one at Tony Gwynn Stadium and the other at the Lake Elsinore Diamond.
Next stop for the team is Lubbock, Texas, as SDSU begins a three-game series against Texas Tech at 4 p.m. Friday.
Texas Tech is ranked No. 14 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 poll.
