A pair of errors in the outfield a critical wild pitch led to four San Diego State runs, as the Lobos fell to the Aztecs 9-8 in the semi-finals of the Mountain West Conference tournament on Friday evening at Santa Ana Star Field.
SDSU jumped out to an early four-run lead after two frames, but the Lobos would respond with five runs in the bottom of the third inning, highlighted by a grand slam to center field by third baseman Carl Stajduhar.
The two teams would exchange runs in the fifth, and six innings before the Aztecs jumped out to a three-run lead in the top of the eighth on a trio of unearned runs. UNM would answer with two in the bottom of the frame, but the Lobos would eventually come up just one run short in a critical game.
“We made some mistakes, and by some guys that never make those errors, and that turned out to be the difference in the game,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said in a quote via GoLobos.com.”
“But these guys haven’t quit. These guys kept battling and battling, and I don’t expect that will stop Saturday. Nobody in that clubhouse is ready to quit yet.”
The Lobos will need to prove that they do in fact have some fight left in them with an elimination game against Fresno State on Saturday at 1 p.m. The winner of the elimination game will then need to defeat the Aztecs twice to secure the tournament title.
Robert Portnoy will have the call on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM, or on the free TEAM Stream app that is available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.