The San Diego State University baseball team seems poised to take a tumble in the national collegiate rankings, as well as the Mountain West Conference standings, after ceding a three games series at San Jose State University over the weekend.
The Aztecs fell to 4-15 on the season, 0-6 in conference play, following a 3-2 setback last Friday and a pair of one-run decisions on Sunday — 8-7 and 9-8 losses.
SDSU pitchers Troy Melton and Jacob Flores combined on a four-hitter, but it wasn’t enough as San Jose State claimed the first game in the weekend series at Excite Ballpark.
In his second start of the season, Melton allowed two unearned runs on three hits and one walk against four strikeouts in 4.2 innings, while Flores gave up the decisive tally to the Spartans’ Danny Zimmerman, who belted a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Flores (1-2) retired 10 of the 11 batters he faced, highlighted by a trio of strikeouts. However, the SDSU left-hander absorbed the tough loss after Zimmerman’s blast in the seventh.
The Aztecs stranded 10 runners overall, leaving the bases loaded in the top of the eighth after Brady Hill, the Spartans’ fourth reliever of the night, induced a pop up to extinguish the threat. The Aztecs were unable to maintain leads of 6-1 and 8-5 in the series finale on Sunday after the completion of a rain-shortened game from the previous day.
Deron Johnson (Poway) smacked a two-run home run in the third inning, while Tino Bethancourt and Cole Carrigg hit solo blasts in the eighth inning, with the latter two giving the Aztecs an 8-5 lead. Earlier, SDSU erased a 1-0 deficit in the third after Trevor Hazelhurst (Granite Hills) scored on a single by Poncho Ruiz (Mater Dei Catholic), while Johnson followed with a two-run bomb over the right field fence.
The Spartans ultimately won on an untimely passed ball. Tyler Glowacki (Santana) scored once in the middle game.
