Aztecs Draw Even In Mountain West Conference Race

Friday, March 30

San Diego, CA

7:00 PM MT

University of Utah

San Diego St

Aztecs Draw Even In Mountain West Conference Race

3/30/2001 12:00 AM | Baseball

March 30, 2001

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - With two runs in the eighth inning the San Diego State Aztecs took a 5-3 lead, and pulled themselves into a first-place tie with the Utah Utes. The Aztecs (17-12, 6-4 MWC) trailed for most of the game but scored three times in their final two at bats to pick up the win. Utah (17-14, 6-4 MWC) led 2-0 after the first inning and 3-0 at one point, but SDSU rallied for the win.

The Utes got off to a quick start, scoring twice in the first after they had two outs. Donnie Saba led off the game with a double, then after two outs and a passed ball Saba scored an a Chris Shelton single. Sam Swenson then walked and Mike Westfall drove in Shelton on a single to left field.

Utah stuck again in the fifth. With two outs Shelton doubled to center. Swenson singled to left to drive in Shelton, putting the Utes up 3-0. The Aztecs scored two of their own in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and a runner on second, Anthony Gwynn singled to center. After Gwynn stole second, Andy Litteral singled to center driving in the Aztecs first two runs.

After SDSU tied the game in the seventh, they took the lead in the eighth. The Aztecs had a man on second and two outs, when the Utes fell apart. First Mitch Maio uncorked a wild pitch moving the runner to third. Then Pilar Amaya singled in the go ahead run. Amaya advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on another wild pitch. He scored an insurance run on a Ryan Wilson single. Royce Ring pitched the ninth for SDSU earning his fifth save of the season.

Utah was led by Saba and Shelton, both finished with two hits apiece. Shelton accounted for all three Ute runs, scoring twice and driving home the other. Ryan Bailey settled for a no decision after pitching 6.1 innings and allowing three earned runs on just four hits. He walked four and struck out four more. Mitch Maio fell to 2-1 after allowing two runs (one earned) in 1.1 innings of work.

The two teams are tied for first-place in the Mountain West Conference with 6-4 records. They play game two of this three-game series tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. (MST) in San Diego at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

San Diego State 5, Utah 3 (Mar 30, 2001 at San Diego, Calif.)------------------------------------------------------------Utah.................200 010 000  -  3  8  1      (17-14)San Diego State..... 000 020 12x  -  5  8  1      (17-12)------------------------------------------------------------Pitchers: Utah - BAILEY, MAIO(7), McAFEE(8). San Diego State - SHORTELL, MOAT(7), RING(9).Win-MOAT(1-0)  Save-RING(5)  Loss-MAIO(2-1)  T-3:02  A-449