San Diego State baseball powered its way to an 8-4 victory over the University of San Francisco Dons on Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium, led by the bat of junior outfielder Julian Escobedo. Batting in the clean-up spot he was only a triple shy of completing the cycle.
The outfielder from Chula Vista had his confidence and swagger on full display as he went 3-for-5 with a double, home run and five RBIs in SDSU’s first regular season game.
He came up big with two outs in the bottom of the third inning by hitting a single to right field to knock in two runs, which were the first runs of the game and gave the Aztecs the momentum.
Then, his home run in the bottom of the fifth was smashed straight into a palm tree out in right field to put SDSU up 5-2.
Escobedo said it was great to finally begin the 2019 season.
“It felt great playing someone other than ourselves for inter squads for the whole fall and winter,” he said.
Escobedo said he tried to keep a cool demeanor, which helped him during the game and hitting at the plate.
“A lot of nerves the first home opener, but I just tried to stay short and have a good time with a smile on my face,” he said.
Escobedo stayed hot as the weekend wore in, finishing the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday going 2-for-5 with 1 RBI in a 9-8 loss to the Dons.
SDSU bounced back in the second game of the doubleheader, winning 6-3 as Escobedo went 1-for-2 with two RBIs in the series rubber match.
Escobedo finished the series with a .500 batting average to go along with 1 home run and 8 RBIs.
Head coach Mark Martinez said Escobedo has worked hard through his years playing for the Aztecs.
“He’s a tremendous baseball player,” Martinez said. “The kid had to kind of bide his time his freshman year, he had a lot of playing time last year and he had to grow into it. He had a really good summer in summer baseball and he’s bigger and stronger.”
