The San Diego State baseball team came out victorious in the desert, as it captured a series win against UNLV from April 13 to 15.
With the sun high in Sin City, the Aztecs belted 39 runs in three games, including 36 in the final two, for the most runs in any three-game stretch since scoring 42 runs in the 2012 Mountain West tournament. Despite the prolific scoring, the Aztecs only claimed two of the three victories.
UNLV 6, SDSU 3
The series opener came down to the two teams raking the ball out of the yard.
SDSU connected on two home runs, a two-run shot in the third off the bat of junior second baseman Alan Trejo and a solo home run in the seventh from junior catcher Hunter Stratton. That was all the offense the Aztecs could muster in the opener as UNLV took charge.
The Rebels scored two in the second inning off of three singles and a sacrifice fly and opened up their lead with back-to-back home runs in the third by sophomore center fielder Kyle Isabel and junior catcher Payton Squier.
In the fifth, Isabel hit his second home run of the contest and the Rebels were able to comfortably win the series opener 6-3.
SDSU 20, UNLV 6
In the middle contest, the Aztecs’ offense exploded for a season high in both hits and runs. It started in the top of the first and never stopped as senior shortstop Danny Sheehan hit an RBI double and sophomore first baseman Jordan Verdon added another with a single as SDSU took a 2-0 lead.
In the second, Trejo singled in another run followed by senior third baseman Andrew Brown doubling in two more and Sheehan doubling in another.
The third inning brought more runs for the Aztecs. Sophomore catcher Dean Nevarez tripled to score two while junior right fielder David Hensley hit a sacrifice fly for another.
In the fourth inning, the Aztecs ended any doubt by adding seven more runs to the onslaught, but were not done as they added one more in the fifth and seventh innings and two more in the eighth inning.
In the end the Aztecs won the match 20-6 and totaled 24 hits, including four from both Trejo and Verdon.
SDSU 16, UNLV 3
The rubber match on Saturday was a continued display of offensive dominance from SDSU. After going down in order the first two innings, the Aztecs turned on the bats again. In the third, Nevarez doubled in Martinez, Brown singled in Hensley and Sheehan brought two home with a shot to left field to open up a 4-0 lead.
The fourth brought two more runs on two solo shots from Martinez and Nevarez while the fifth ended the Rebels’ hopes of a comeback. Nevarez had a two-run double, Hensley singled in Martinez, Brown hit a sacrifice fly, Verdon tripled home three Aztecs and junior left fielder Tyler Adkison made sure Verdon came in to score as well.
In total, the Aztec offense scored eight runs in the inning and held a 14-0 lead after five innings.
UNLV pushed across its first run when junior third baseman Austin Anderson tripled to bring home a run in the bottom of the fifth and added two more in the eighth on a fielder’s choice and senior second baseman Cooper Esmay’s double down the left field line.
SDSU answered those two runs with two of its own in the top half of the ninth to pour on to what was a 16-3 victory for the visitors.
The Aztecs head to Santa Barbara for a three game series against the UC Santa Barbara from April 21-23.
