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Baseball Wins Wild
13-Inning Thriller |
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In what was a tense,
tightly-contested contest, the CSUSM baseball traveled to San Diego
Christian on Tuesday, and emerged victorious in their first
extra-innings game of the season.
A 13th-inning rally propelled the Cougars to the
6-3 win. Coach Dennis Pugh’s team is
now 8-8, marking the first time the team has reached .500 in 2008.
Last year, the squad finished with an 18-23 record. On Tuesday, Jared Suwyn got his
second start of the season, and made the most of it.
The fifth-year senior was tremendous, giving the Cougars 8
strong innings of work – the longest outing by any CSUSM pitcher
this season. While not overpowering, Suwyn’s ability to throw any pitch
in any count kept San Diego Christian’s usually-powerful lineup
off-balance, and his wicked slider induced many a groundball.
He allowed just 6 hits in his 8 innings, walking only 2 with
1 strikeout. While Suwyn kept the Cougars in
the game, it was David Julio who won it.
Entering a tie game with two on and one out in the ninth,
Julio closed the door on that rally – then proceeded to throw
three more dominant innings to earn the victory.
He allowed just two hits over his 4 2/3 innings of work,
walking 1 and striking out 2. CSUSM got off to a fast start,
scoring a pair of first inning runs.
Ricardo Moran drew a one-out walk and reached second on a
wild pitch, then was singled in by Tristan Gale.
Gale then crossed then plate when Terry Moritz crushed a
triple to right. S.D. Christian got one back in
the bottom of the inning, but the Cougars extended the lead to 3-1
in the third thanks to a solo homer by Gale, who was making his
return after being sidelined a few games due to injury. The lead would hold until the
seventh, but S.D. Christian was able to manufacture a pair of runs
to tie the game. CSUSM
threatened in the top of the 8th and 9th,
stranding multiple runners in scoring position in each; while Julio
worked out of a similar situation in the bottom of the ninth. With both bullpens clamping
down, the tie persisted to the 13th before the Cougars
finally broke through. Moran
started the rally with a single, and pinch-hitter Austin Way came
through with a clutch RBI double to make it 4-3.
Moritz followed that up with an RBI double of his own, and an
error would allow him to score to make it 6-3.
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