In the second installment of the weekend series, San Diego State Baseball saw an early deficit turn into a 13-7 loss to the Mountain West leader University of New Mexico.
Unlike game one of the series, the Lobos (29-12, 16-4) took control early in the contest, opening the game with two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The Aztecs (11-25, 4-10) knocked in one run in the next frame on an rbi double from sophomore right fielder Tyler Adkison, his 10th double of 2016.
Adkison became just the third SDSU hitter to accrue 20 rbis on the season with that double, joining fellow sophomores in shortstop Alan Trejo and third baseman Justin Wylie.
Adkison’s achievement was grossly overshadowed by the outpouring of the UNM offense in the second inning.
The Lobos unloaded eight runs on nine hits, punctuated by a three-run homer from junior first baseman Jack Zoellner, to take a definitive 10-1 lead.
With one out on the board in the second, UNM knocked in six runs on four consecutive hits before SDSU freshman starter Chris Collins was pulled in favor of junior Dominic Purpura.
Collins was severely outmatched in his first career start, lasting only 1.1 innings while surrendering nine runs and allowing ten of the fourteen batters he faced to reach base safely.
It was the second freshman to start in this all-important series, which speaks volumes to the youth and lack of pitching depth on this Aztec team.
The Lobos relaxed after their early game explosion, and scored only three runs in the remainder of the contest – two in the third and one in the seventh.
SDSU made the loss sting a little less with one run in the third, two in the seventh and three in the eighth, closing the gap to 13-7.
Redshirt-senior Spencer Thornton hit his team-leading fifth home run in the eighth inning, and underperforming sophomore left fielder Chase Calabuig knocked in two runs on a double in the seventh, in the process finally exceeding 10 rbis on the season.
