San Diego State is more than accustomed to elimination games in the Mountain West tournament.
In fact, the sixth-seeded Aztecs pushed their winning streak to 14 in elimination contests when they beat No. 4 seed UNLV 18-8 Thursday at Santa Ana Star Field. The Aztecs (21-37) have won the past three Mountain West tournaments.
“I wasn’t part of the past few runs, but that was the topic before the game,” first baseman Jordan Verdon said. “Coach (Mark Martinez) told us before the game that we’ve been here before and we have to just survive and advance.”
In the top of the eighth inning, SDSU put the game out of reach for UNLV with nine runs.
The runs started to pour in after Rebels’ third baseman Kyle Isbel hesitated and threw over first baseman Nick Ames, which allowed SDSU’s runners to advance to second and third on the error.
SDSU capitalized with five straight hits tacking on six runs with the last being a triple to center field off the bat of right fielder Tyler Adikson for a 13-5 lead.
Verdon put an exclamation point to the inning with a two-run home run to right field. The freshman finished 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs.
“Today’s game was just more relaxed,” SDSU head coach Mark Martinez said. “We have been here before and our guys must like their backs against the wall. We came out and loosened up and swung the bats well.”
Aztec starter Brett Seeburger went just four innings, allowing five runs – three of them earned – on eight hits. Rebel starter Kenny Oakley didn’t fare much better as he gave up six earned runs on eight hits in just five innings of work.
Reliever Jacob Erickson (4-6) picked up the victor for the Aztecs after tossing three shutout innings.
Adikson went 3-for-5 on the day with five RBIs. The Aztecs ended with 19 hits as a team, but also had three errors on the day.
Left fielder Cody Howard had four hits of UNLV’s 16 hits on the day.
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UNLV (24-32) had tied the game up at 5-all after scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. However, SDSU answered quickly in the top of the fifth with a home run from Thornton for a 6-5 lead that the team never relinquished.
The Aztecs will play Friday at 11 p.m. against the lowest remaining seed of Thursday’s winner’s bracket games.
Thomas Romero-Salas is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @ThomasRomeroS.
