Senior Justin Goossen-Brown delivered San Diego State baseball’s first shutout of the year in an 8-0 win over New Mexico on May 16 at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Goossen-Brown allowed four hits and one walk, while striking out five in his outing against the Lobos (21-28-1, 9-16-1 MW).
Goossen-Brown said his outing — which was the senior’s final career outing at Tony Gwynn Stadium — was the perfect ending to finish off his career at his home stadium.
“It’s just a great way to end my career here at Tony Gwynn Stadium. I’m really happy I got to finish (the season) on a good note here,” Goossen-Brown said.
In all but three innings, Goossen-Brown set down the Lobos’ side in order. The senior received help from his defense as they turned three double plays and got a potential run-saving diving catch in the ninth inning from junior second baseman Jacob Maekawa.
Goossen-Brown said his defense helped him get through the outing.
“I had tremendous defense behind me. I don’t even know how many double plays we turned in the infield and then (Maekawa) laying out in the last inning was huge. I couldn’t have done it without them behind me this whole game,” he said.
SDSU (32-21, 16-11 MW) head coach Mark Martinez said Goossen-Brown’s shutout helped carry the weight in the victory.
“(It was) an unbelievable night from him – his last start at San Diego State (and) a complete game shutout. Just an outstanding job and he put us on his back tonight,” Martinez said.
The Aztecs’ offense was led by a three-RBI night from junior right fielder Mike Jarvis and a two-RBI night from senior shortstop Angelo Armenta.
SDSU jumped onto the scoreboard with a two-run third inning after receiving RBI singles Jarvis and Armenta.
Both players delivered RBIs later in the game via sacrifice flies.
Armenta added to the lead with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning that brought home sophomore left fielder Matt Rudick. Jarvis added his third RBI of the night with his sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to score sophomore third baseman Casey Schmitt.
SDSU received an eighth inning RBI from senior designated hitter Chad Bible in the ninth to extend the lead to 7-0.
Bible, who went 2-for-3 at the plate and accounted for three of the SDSU’s runs, said the Aztecs’ offense delivered in clutch situations.
“It was a good all-around win. Hitter got (hits) when we needed to,” Bible said. “At the plate, we had a really good approach.”
Despite the win, the Aztecs are still locked into the No. 2 seed for the Mountain West tournament after Fresno State defeated UNLV 7-0 on the road to secure the No. 1 seed and the Mountain West regular season title.
Martinez said the Aztecs will focus on this weekend’s series before they look ahead to the MW tournament.
“We’ve got meat on the bone this weekend, and we’ve got to continue to play good baseball in order for that to transfer into next week,” Martinez said. “First and foremost, we’ve got to concentrate on tomorrow, find a way to beat their best (pitcher) and finish the weekend and then we’ll start preparing for the conference tournament.”
The Aztecs will play the second game of the three-game home series against New Mexico at 6 p.m. on May 17.
