AZTECS SNARE A THIRD STRAIGHT MW SERIES
San Diego State has reached the NCAA Regionals five of the past seven years the tournament has been played, reaching the Field of 64 on each occasion by winning the Mountain West conference championship.
There is no MW tournament this season — a concession to COVID-19 circumstances — so the regular-season champion will receive the conference’s automatic postseason berth. As solid as SDSU has been in the MW tournament, regular season titles have not been listed on the Aztecs’ resume since 2004.
So SDSU needs to make the most of each week — all 12 of them — if it is to secure a place in the 2021 postseason.
The Aztecs (11-5, 6-3 MW) remained tied with UNLV atop the Mountain West standings by taking two of three games this weekend against Air Force at Tony Gwynn Stadium. SDSU has won two games each of the past three weekends, with conference wins coming against Fresno State and UNLV before the Falcons.
Against Air Force, SDSU swept Saturday’s doubleheader on 9-2 and 5-1 scores before losing Sunday’s finale 13-9. While starters Michael Paredes and Troy Melton have been fixtures atop the staring rotation, the Aztecs still are trying to figure things out in Game 3.
The Aztecs fell behind 6-3 midway through Sunday’s game, rallied to make it 8-8 with a five-run six inning, then watched things slip away when the Falcons scored five runs over the last two innings off junior right-hander Tre Brown.
The top of the batting order did most of the work in the finale, with shortstop Mike Jarvis, center fielder Matt Rudick and catcher Wyatt Hendrie combining for 10 hits in 14 at-bats and seven of the team’s nine RBIs.
This week: Saturday-Sunday at San Jose State, TBA (DH)/TBA.
Toreros update
USD (13-4, 2-1 West Coast Conference) jumped out to a five-run lead Sunday at Saint Mary’s then hung on for a 5-4 victory to give the Toreros a series win in its first conference outing of the season. USD opened the series Friday with a 7-0 win before Saturday’s 4-3 loss.
Freshman reliever Ivran Romero pushed his shutout streak to start his collegiate career to 161⁄3 innings with two appearances over the weekend. It included coming on with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday and getting the final two outs for his second save. Saint Mary’s had rallied for two runs and the Gaels were potentially a hit away from victory when Romero was summoned. Romero (2-0) got the win in the series opener for 12⁄3 innings of relief.
The hitting highlight of the weekend was provided in the opener when shortstop Cody Jefferis had three hits and three RBIs and center fielder Paul Kunst had four hits and two RBIs.
This week: Tuesday at USC, 6 p.m.; Friday-Sunday vs. Pacific, 6 p.m./4 p.m./1 p.m.
Sea Lions update
Point Loma Nazarene (3-5, 2-2 PacWest) required a couple of standout pitching performances to split its four-game series against Concordia. Junior right-hander Nathan Garkow allowed three hits and struck out eight over 51⁄3 shutout innings of a 1-0 win. Redshirt freshman right-hander Dylan Miller got things started in a 4-2 win, allowing one earned run and four hits with five strikeouts — and working around five walks — over six innings.
PLNU first baseman Baxter Halligan drove in three runs in the second victory. He was 6-for-13 in the series, boosting his batting average to a team-high .440.
This week: Friday vs. Biola, noon (DH); Saturday at Biola, noon (DH).
Tritons update
UC San Diego (3-9) had the week off for finals before opening play in the Big West.
This week: Friday-Sunday at Cal Poly, 3 p.m./noon (DH)/1 p.m.