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Aztecs’ Jacob McCombs belts grand slam in loss
Source: goaztecs.com
Photo courtesy goaztecs.com
February 22, 2024 (San Diego) - In a game riddled by mistakes, the San Diego State baseball team dropped a 7-5 decision to visiting CSUN on Wednesday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Eight pitchers combined to limit the Matadors to four hits; however, the Aztecs committed six errors and a passed ball, which led to six unearned runs.
Despite the troubles, which also included five hit batters by SDSU hurlers the Scarlet and Black rallied from a 4-1 deficit to take the lead on Jacob McCombs’ grand slam with one out in the seventh.
In that inning, Colby Turner and David Whittle each ripped singles, sandwiched around a flyout, while Drew Rutter was issued a walk. Moments later, McCombs entered as a pinch hitter and belted a 1-0 offering from reliever Hayden Hall over the right field fence to give the Aztecs a 5-4 advantage.
The lead wouldn’t last, however, as the Matadors scored two runs on just one hit in the eighth, capitalizing on three straight errors during bunting situations after Kevin Fitzer’s leadoff double. CSUN subsequently took the lead on Trent Abel’s second RBI groundout of the game.
The Matadors then closed out the scoring in the ninth on Jakob Simons’ solo home run to left.
Despite allowing McCombs’ blast, Hall (1-0) was charged with just one of those runs and ultimately received the victory after getting the final two outs in the seventh on a grounder to second and a pop-up. Meanwhile, Jonny Guzman (0-2) absorbed the hard-luck loss after facing just two batters to start the eighth.
Joshua Romero, CSUN’s fourth reliever of the night, struck out six of the final seven hitters to secure the save.
The Aztecs’ first two pitchers, Issac Araiza and Chris Canavan, each struck out three batters in two innings of work.
After fanning the first two batters in the game, Araiza was victimized by a passed ball and a wild pitch following a Simons double and a walk to Fitzer, as both runners eventually scored to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage.
SDSU narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the third when Tino Bethancourt scored on Finley Bates’ sacrifice fly.
The Matadors added single unearned runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to increase their advantage to 4-1.
Fitzer and Simons accounted for CSUN’s output with two hits apiece, while Bates and Rutter also singled for the Aztecs, who totaled six hits for the game.
San Diego State will co-host the annual Tony Gwynn Legacy event this weekend at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs will battle Missouri (Feb. 23), CSU Bakersfield (Feb. 24) and Utah (Feb. 26) in succession.
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