Coming Together

I was at the baseball game at Tony Gwynn Stadium between Kansas and SDSU.  This two game series is one of those quiet, unnoticed but truly important moments in the Aztecs' season.  The Mountain West (as we saw in hoops) has its identity issues in every sport, but in baseball the conference is seen as weak.  It's hard to get more than one team in from the conference UNLESS a team really schedules well and shows well against tough non-conference competition.  For the last couple of years Tony Gwynn has really been trying to beef up the schedule and test his team against top schools from the West and Midwest.  Last year the Aztecs showed well against USD but lost to teams such as Missouri, Long Beach State, Oregon State and Arizona.  Instead of getting a winning streak revving the Aztecs started 11-10 and finished 31-28. 

This year's start looked very similar to last year, with SDSU beating USD four out of five but struggling against Cal State Fullerton, Kansas State and Pacific.  At 7-6, the Aztecs started last week with their most important win of the year to date, the 6-run 9th inning comeback at UCLA.  Then, last weekend, all three starters shined on the mound as State swept UNLV.  Which brings us back to last night, and Kansas in town for two.  10-5 on the season, with a strong schedule and some impressive wins, the Jayhawks stood between a possible big time winning streak and another stop-and-start pattern for the Aztecs.

Ryan O'Sullivan got the start for SDSU, the freshman coming in from shortstop to make his 4th start on the mound.  Thanks to the aggressive schedule, Ryan has faced nothing but tough teams in his midweek starts, and he came in to last night with an 0-1 record and a 7.04 ERA, by far the highest on the staff.  Ryan has been solid at short but has struggled badly at the plate the last couple weeks, and you could sense he was hungry to contribute to a win.  

For the first time last night, it really came together for O'Sullivan on the mound.  He had a sinking, moving fastball working and retired 12 in a row.  Ryan also showed a solid slider to right-handers and an offspeed breaking ball.  O'Sullivan really has an aggressive, bulldog attitude while he is pitching and the infield fed off his energy and made good plays behind him.  

Cory Vaughn continued his tear in the 2nd inning by taking an outside fastball deep to right-center field for a wall ball.  Most would have had a double on the play but with his speed Vaughn easily made 3rd base.  That same speed revealed itself on the next play, when Mitch Blackburn hit a reasonably hard grounder to short.  Vaughn was moving on contact and the shortstop had no play but first base.  1-0 Aztecs.

Kansas freshman right-hander Lee Ridenhour was spectacular from there.  With a mean fastball and filthy slider, Ridenhour struck out 8 over 7 innings with just three hits allowed.  The Aztecs wouldn't even sniff another scoring threat on the night.  Which left SDSU hanging on for dear life in the late innings.

In the 7th Easton Gust booted a routine grounder for a leadoff error, and after a sacrifice O'Sullivan issued his first walk of the night.  The 7th was uncharted territory for the freshman, but Tony Gwynn stuck with him against Kansas' best hitter, third baseman Tony Thompson.  The sophomore slugger had a 23-game hitting streak active, 1 away from tying the Kansas record.  It looked like he had it on a deep launch to right field, which was carrying over Cory Vaughn's head.  But Cory continued his star performance by somehow catching up to the ball, leaping, and grabbing the ball high over his head on the dead run toward the wall.  Both Kansas baserunners were off and running and Vaughn was able to throw back in and double off the lead runner to end the inning.  A spectacular play!

Chase Thomas came on in relief to start the 8th but walked the leadoff man, and Andrew Leary relieved him.  The right-hander has become an unsung hero on the Aztecs, so I will sing his praises here.  Even after Brandon Meredith made a shaky decision trying to throw for the lead runner on a bunt and failing, Leary came back to strike out three in a row and get the game to the 9th. 

On came Addison Reed, who was a perfect 6-for-6 in saves so far this year.  A leadoff single was followed by a sacrifice and a strikeout.  Then, it was the big hitter Thompson at the plate for one more chance.  Reed got ahead 0-2, Thompson fouled one off, and then Reed lost his grip on a slider and hit Thompson in the back.  Corey Lytle followed with a worm-burner ground ball to 2nd, but Mitch Blackburn booted the play for an error (after making several good plays on the night).  Now with the bases loaded, it was nervous time, but Reed knucked down and got left fielder Nick Faunce to pop out and preserve a 1-0 win.

SDSU has now won 5 straight and 7 of 8, and at 12-6 on the season, the team is coming together and winning games they didn't use to win.  Tonight's game now looms as an even bigger chance, as a win would link up this win streak to the next conference home series against BYU, with the Aztecs' top pitchers coming back around in the rotation.  The game will be on goaztecs.com tonight at 6pm.  

A couple of other notes...

• Why are WBC games as long as World Series games?  I set up last night's Puerto Rico-USA game to tape for 4 hours and still came up short for a 9-inning game.  Grr.  Yay for the USA comeback in the 9th, though.  Now Peavy will get one more chance for redemption, at his favorite stadium in which to pitch, Dodger Stadium.  
• A great first step to redemption for the Aztecs' men last night against Weber State.  Chris was there so I'll leave the analysis to him, but if SDSU can get past their 2nd round opponent and a pretend home court at USD on Friday, they could possibly earn a rematch with St. Mary's and a chance to exorcise one of their demons from this season.

Aztecs Baseball Weekend In Review

A tremendous weekend for SDSU Baseball ended with a three-game sweep of UNLV yesterday, 15-2 at Tony Gwynn Stadium.  The Aztecs have now won four straight and seven of their last eight games, improving to 11-6, 3-0 MWC.  Thoughts on all three games:

FRIDAY: Over 2,100 take in the game at TGS, leading to a host of logistical problems, from long ticket lines to parking structure-change making issues.  By the 3rd inning it was hard to find an empty seat in the house.  They've come to see Strasburg and Stephen does not disappoint, striking out the side in the 1st and 2nd innings and recording an insane 10 K's through four innings.  UNLV scores off Strasburg twice, the first involving a walk-steal-balk and the second a strikeout-wild pitch.  Stephen runs up his pitch count, forcing him out after 7 innings, but the big crowd sees 14 strikeouts against just one walk, with six hits and two runs allowed.  Three in the first and one in the 2nd is enough for the SDSU offense, and the bullpen survives a shaky 9th from Addison Reed to close out a 4-3 win.  Erik Castro shows signs of breaking out of a season-long slump with his first HR of the year and a 2-for-3 night.  

SATURDAY: It's a matinee, scheduled head-to-head with the start of the MWC basketball championships in Las Vegas, so I knew the crowd would be a big drop from Friday night to Saturday afternoon.  About 1600 less, as a matter of fact.  Those watching the basketball disappointment at home miss one of the most complete games of the Aztecs' season to date.  The story is Jon Berger, a senior who got boxed around badly last year but has found great control and a breaking pitch to complement his excellent changeup.  Berger strikes out a career-high 10 over 8 innings, all but one on his slow-slow-slower change.  After a slow start against impressive whip-thin UNLV freshman right-hander Tanner Peters, the Aztecs rise up with three runs in the 5th and three more in the 8th.  Pat Colwell's in the middle of things as usual, leading off with a base hit for the 5th straight game, he finishes 2-4 with an RBI.  Leading 6-1 in the 9th, Tony Gwynn thinks he's going to be able to rest his closer, until James McLaughlin loads the bases with nobody out.  In comes Reed for his best appearance of the season, striking out three straight for his career-best 6th save.  6-1 SDSU the final. 

SUNDAY: Here is where the Aztecs can really separate themselves from other teams in their conference.  While UNLV throws Corey Hales, a senior with an 8.10 ERA, the Aztecs counter with Tyler Lavigne, a solid sinker-baller who has kept his team in the game every time out.  SDSU's pitching depth is starting to reveal itself, and never more so than today.  Lavigne strikes out 8 in 5+ innings, and is never hit hard.  The only three singles he allows are little rollers or choppers off his sinker.  The Aztecs' bullpen finishes off with four shutout innings, with three hits and no walks allowed.  Oh, what about the offense?  Feasting on the back end of the Rebels' pitching staff, SDSU bangs out 14 hits and 15 runs in a 15-2 laugher.  Ever since his walkoff HR against USD last Friday, Cory Vaughn has been on an absolute tear: 

7 games: 10-26 (.385), 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 9 RS, 3BB, 2 HBP, 4K, 4 SB

Yesterday Cory ripped an 0-2 fastball up the middle for a two-run single in the first, used his speed to leg out an infield dribbler for a single in the 3rd, laced a triple down the left-field line and into the corner in the 5th (part of a 7-run inning), and then blasted a hanger over the left-field fence for a 3-run HR in the 7th.  He never got to bat again, finishing a double short of the cycle.  It was also great to see Josh Chasse, a hard worker who struggles to crack the outfield lineup, come off the bench and go 2-2 with 3 RBI, including his first college HR, a no-doubter in the 8th.  

Kansas is in town Tuesday and Wednesday and then it's BYU for a three-game series on Thursday-Friday-Saturday.  I would anticipate the SDSU rotation for the next five days to be as follows, but it's not official:

Ryan O'Sullivan-Tuesday

Nate Solow-Wednesday

Stephen Strasburg-Thursday

Jon Berger-Friday

Tyler Lavigne-Saturday

Aztecs Baseball Recap from UCLA

The Aztecs now have two last at-bat wins they can point to in the preseason as potential building blocks.  Last night at Jackie Robinson Stadium, a chilly and sloppy game came to a rousing conclusion as SDSU scored nine runs in the final three innings, including 6 in the 9th, to beat the reeling UCLA Bruins 10-6.  Five straight hits in the final inning included 2-run doubles from Brandon Meredith and Cory Vaughn, who are fast becoming the run producers Tony Gwynn hoped they would be.  San Diego State is now 8-6 while UCLA is a hard-luck 3-11.

The Aztecs dealt with some of their familiar issues, such as hitting droughts and fielding miscues, but also showed a real resiliency in waiting out a tough young pitcher and feasting on the weaker part of the UCLA bullpen.  It was my first chance to call a Ryan O'Sullivan pitching start, and I thought Ryan showed a good fastball and at times had a pretty solid breaking pitch.  He was certainly the victim of some bad fortune early on, as there were a number of "almost" plays made behind him, and a couple of real ducksnorts fell for base hits.  He also walked two batters who both came around to score.  In the fifth he gave up three straight solid hits and got lifted.  

Trevor Bauer started for UCLA, a freshman from Hart High, and he was pretty good.  Looked like a low-'90s fastball, good hard slider, a 6'0" right-hander who has a terrier mentality and really locked in as the game went along.  He was herky jerky and a little violent in his delivery, but did get good extension coming toward home plate.  Bauer gave up just two hits in 6 innings and believe me the Aztecs were happy to see him go.  It was his first start after working out of the bullpen.  

In college baseball one thing is clear: if you can keep the game within striking range there are usually a couple of pitchers in the other bullpen who will give you a chance to get back into it.  Sunday's game wasn't out of reach at 5-1...but when USD kept piling on to get to 10-1, that's when the Aztecs were in trouble.  Last night, at 5-1 UCLA in the 5th, the SDSU bullpen held it right there.  Andrew Leary retired all five Bruins he faced, and James McLaughlin was solid in the 7th.  That's the type of pitching midweek that can separate the Aztecs from other teams.  

Still, San Diego State's offense was as cold as the chilly night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.  Finally, after a total gift run was given to SDSU in the 7th (error, wild pitch, passed ball, groundout, LOL), the Aztecs took advantage of some more presents.  Wild lefty Gavin Brooks (from Rancho Buena Vista) gave up a hit, walk, and hit by pitch, then a wild pitch.  Brooks departed for another left-hander, Brendan Lafferty, who then got out of the inning without allowing another hit, although a sac fly cut the lead down to 5-4 UCLA.  

Kegan Sharp gave up a homerun to Cody Decker in the bottom of the 8th (the UCLA ballpark is a little bandbox by the way, it was probably a double at TGS) and it was 6-4 and trouble heading into the 9th.  The Bruins were the preseason pick to win the Pac-10, but a couple of their top pitchers are injured, and the hard-luck team went through a 10-game losing streak that included 6 one-run losses and 8 games in a row against ranked teams (#1 strength of schedule in the country).  On this night, instead of their top closer, the Bruins had to try and have a pair of journeyman seniors finish the game.  

Josh Chasse, a junior outfielder who has to fight for playing time, got things started for the Aztecs with a big walk, fighting back against Lafferty after falling behind 1-2 in the count.  Pat Colwell then hit the first pitch he saw to right field, past the diving second baseman for a hit.  Down 6-4 with two on and nobody out, Tony decided to call for the bunt, and Brandon Decker laid down a good one to the left of the mound.  Lafferty threw late and it was a base hit to load the bases.  I looked down in the UCLA bullpen but couldn't quite see the number.  When the head coach made the call to the bullpen and it was senior right-hander Jason Novak, he of the team-worst 13.50 ERA, I figured there was a pretty good chance for the Aztecs.

With Meredith at the plate, Novak jumped ahead 0-2 then threw a breaking ball in the dirt and to the backstop.  6-5 game, and now 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.  Brandon kept the at-bat alive with a foul or two and then roped an inside pitch inside the 3rd base bag and down the line for a double, plating both runners.  7-6 SDSU, their first lead of the game.  Now, the floodgates were wide open.  Erik Castro gets just his 4th hit of the season, a hard grounder that gets through this time.  Vaughn doubles to deep center, short-hopping the wall to make it 9-6.  And with two outs, Mike Gallego's son Nico throws it away at shortstop to make it 10-6.  After being two-hit through six innings, the Aztecs get five straight hits in the 9th to score six runs and add to the UCLA misery in 2009.

Addison Reed had a big fastball in the 9th, striking out the last two Bruins, their top two hitters back-to-back.  Then it was on to the bus for the long drive back to San Diego, a happy Aztecs team with a big win in their back pockets.  With Strasburg on the mound Friday, SDSU has a chance to build a little winning streak here opening conference action.  We'll have radio coverage on XTRA 1360 this Friday at 6pm.