SDSU (3-5) looked to get back on track this Sunday against Pepperdine (1-7) after a close loss to 21st ranked UCSB the night before. Sadly even with a hot start and some late inning heroics the Aztecs just could not close it out.
It stung more knowing the loss came in a tournament dedicated to one of the most respected Aztecs in history. The Aztecs had been paying homage to Gwynn all weekend, with multiple players dawning the retired #19 in honor of the former Aztec. The players selected were given the honor for their own exemplification of all the positivity Mr Padre exuded. Senior catcher Evan Sipe was the first to dawn the 19 on Thursday. It was then passed to Omar Serrano for his start on Friday. Then Jake Jackson earned the honors before it was finally given to standout sophomore Finley Bates.
Bates responded to the honor accordingly in Sunday’s game, launching a first pitch home-run to give the Aztecs an electric start. Unfortunately, the homer was in response to a one run first inning by Pepperdine.
Pepperdine kept their foot on the gas, scoring another run in the top of the second to give themselves a 2-1 lead.
After the taxing initial two innings, Aztec starter Marko Sipila settled in. The Junior pitcher demonstrated quality command all night long, walking just one batter in his 6.1 innings of work with four strikeouts.
SDSUs bats went frozen after the Bates bomb. Pepperdine starter Dylan Stewart did not make many mistake pitches besides the homer. Stewart pitched five innings of one run, two walk, six strikeout baseball for Pepperdine. The Aztecs could not get a semblance of a rally going against Stewart nor the early arms Pepperdine trotted out.
Defensively, SDSU worked to keep the deficit in its place. Pepperdine started the 7th with a laser beam of a triple from senior Cam Conley. Outfielder Nick Upstill then hit a flyball to center deep enough to bring home a run, making it 3-1 Pepperdine. After a Pepperdine single, Lefty Chris Canada came in to escape the jam, inducing a flyout and picking off a runner to get out of the inning.
Yet another quiet bottom of the inning had Aztec fans worried, but after a clean top of the 8th, SDSU woke up.
The rally was sparked by a bomb off the bat of sophomore Josh Quezada. Quezada barely kept his solo home-run in play, missing the foul pole by about eight feet. Back to back base hits by freshman Cody Liscio and sophomore Finley Bates had runners on the corners. Nevan Noonan then played hero, hitting a grounder up the middle hard enough to score Liscio, tying the game at 3-3. Jake Jackson was then drilled by a pitch to load up the bases, bringing up freshman CJ Moran. Moran responded to the challenge, hitting a fly ball deep enough to score Bates, giving SDSU a 4-3 lead entering the top of the ninth.
With just three outs to go, head coach Shaun Cole initially went with left handed sophomore Chris Canavan, but he only gave him two batters. Canavan struck out the first batter before allowing a single to Cam Conley. The single proved to be devastating.
Cole elected to bring in junior right handed pitcher Issac Araiza to get the last two outs. It started off well with Araiza inducing a flyball for out number two. However, he then threw two wild pitches, allowing the runner to move to third. He walked Max Aude on that second wild pitch. Araiza then decided to check on Aude first. In doing so, he threw a low pickoff attempt which could not be quickly gloved by SDSUs Drew Rutter. In the split second in which Rutter had to dig the ball up, Pepperdine’s Brodey Bitove broke for the plate, sliding head first into home to tie the game at four.
San Diego State flirted with an easy end to the game in the bottom of the ninth, putting runners on the corners. But Finley Bates could not come up with a key hit, striking out swinging leaving the winning run just 90 feet away.
Extra innings did not go as planned for the Aztecs. They began with a stalemate in the top and bottom of the 10th, clutch pitching held the score at four.
However, Pepperdine broke through in the top of the 11th. It began with an error by Finley Bates, then turned into a base hit, fielder’s choice and a walk to load the bases. Max Aude stepped with the bases loaded, crushing a bases clearing double to give Pepperdine a 7-4 lead.
There was no resistance from the Aztecs in the bottom of the 11th.
An especially brutal loss considering how preventable it truly was, just one pitch was the difference between an Aztec loss and victory.
San Diego State looks to get back on track against University of San Diego on Tuesday at 6 p.m..
