San Diego State baseball fell victim to a high scoring inning during a 5-1 loss to No. 14/11 Texas Tech on March 5 at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The Aztecs trailed 2-1 in the start of the seventh inning, but surrendered three runs after a two out rally from the Red Raiders. SDSU struggled at the plate, leaving 13 total men on base.
Head coach Mark Martinez said the team’s inability to score runs made the three-run inning even harder to come back from.
“The three-run inning that they had put the game out of reach pretty much based on how we were swinging the bat,” he said. “The four run lead felt like it was 10 runs. It was just a bad performance offensively.”
Texas Tech’s first run of the seventh inning came off of a two out single from sophomore left fielder Cody Masters. Masters was brought around to score two batters later when junior second baseman Brian Klein singled to center field.
SDSU was seemingly out of the inning when senior pitcher Justin Goossen-Brown got Dylan Neuse to hit a ground ball to second base, but junior second baseman Jacob Maekawa’s throw couldn’t be hauled in by his first baseman, which allowed junior third baseman Josh Jung to score on the throwing error.
Senior shortstop Angelo Armenta said the Red Raiders’ string of hits led to the three-run inning.
“They were squeaking hits and (the inning) got out of hand,” he said.
Klein broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning with a double to deep left center field that brought home Neuse.
The sole run for the Aztecs came from sophomore catcher Joe Fitzhugh, after a third inning sacrifice fly, in an inning when the team had the bases loaded.
Fitzhugh stepped up in the seventh inning and had another two men in scoring position, but he grounded out to third base to end the inning.
Martinez said the team’s inability to score runs with runners on base was underwhelming.
“It was a bad performance offensively tonight for us,” he said. “Eight of the nine innings we had two runners on base and we didn’t get any hits.”
In the top of the first inning, SDSU also had runners on first and second with no outs, but the Red Raiders quieted the Aztec bats.
Sophomore left fielder Matt Rudick and junior center fielder Julian Escobedo both hit singles to lead off the bottom half of the first, but the Red Raiders turned a double play an at bat later. w
Senior shortstop Angelo Armenta flew out to center and Rudick was thrown out at third base by Neuse after attempting to advance on the play and freshman first baseman Brian Leonhardt struck out swinging to end the inning without a run.
Armenta said the team failed to find big hits to bring runners in.
“It’s definitely really important (to get those runs in). We just couldn’t get the big hit today,” he said.
The Aztecs will play the second game of their two game series against Texas Tech March 6 at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
