College Confidential

James outduels Strasburg

Utah pitcher John James went head-to-head with San Diego State sophomore ace Stephen Strasburg, and prevailed with a 1-0 victory today in the Mountain West Conference tournament.
James (4-7), the Utes' No.3 pitcher, had his first complete game in his collegiate career. He allowed four hits and four walks while striking out nine. Strasburg (8-3), the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, went seven innings, giving up five hits, one earned run and three walks.
Utah (25-27), the No.5 seed, will play No.6 seed UNLV (23-36) in about 55 minutes in another elimination game. The No.3 Aztecs finished the season 31-28.
-Trae Thompson

Aztecs advance

San Diego State (31-27) scored its only run in the bottom of the seventh, and hung on for a 1-0 victory over BYU (22-36) in an elimination game in the Mountain West Conference tournament today at Lupton Stadium.
A great pitchers duel took place between Aztecs starter Nate Solow and BYU's Blake Torgerson. Solow (6-7), who went 8 2/3 innings, allowed four hits and one walk while striking out six. At one point, he retired 12 straight batters. Torgerson (6-5) gave up one earned run, two walks and six hits in eight innings, retiring nine straight into the seventh. -Trae

Aztecs score

San Diego State leads 1-0 entering the top of the eighth.
The Aztecs broke through in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Decker walked and Erik Castro singled. Brett Tanos then drove in Decker on a single to center before Pat Colwell popped out to second base. -Trae

10 and counting

San Diego State pitcher Nate Solow has retired 10 straight. -Trae

Safe by a mile

Wow, we've got some controversy.
San Diego State had runners on first and second when Brandon Decker hit a hard shot to Cougars third baseman Steve Parker, who played the ball beautifully then turned to make a tough throw to first. Decker had already reached first, but the ump called him out to end the inning. This was a no-brainer. He was safe. Tony Gwynn came out to protest, to no avail.
Still scoreless.... -Trae

Strasburg not starting

San Diego State ace Stephen Strasburg is not starting against BYU this morning in an elimination game at the Mountain West Conference tournament.
The Aztecs have selected Nate Solow (5-7) instead. Solow has a 4.67 ERA, and has allowed 88 hits, 43 earned runs and 30 walks in 82 2/3 innings. He also has 90 strikeouts.
-Trae Thompson

Strasburg may start

San Diego State may call on its ace.
Aztecs coach Tony Gwynn hinted that he may use sophomore pitcher Stephen Strasburg (8-2) for Wednesday's 11 a.m. elimination game following their 6-2 loss to UNLV today.
''Don’t try to read my mind. Don’t put words in my mouth,'' Gwynn snapped when asked if Strasburg was getting the start. "I came here to try and win the tournament, and put us in the best position to win. It sucks. Cause you know you’ve got him, you know you’re going to have to use him. If we win that (UNLV) game, I don’t know. We’ll discuss it tonight. Pretty good bet yeah we probably will.''
San Diego State was hoping to use J.R. Murphy in its opener, but Murphy got sick on Monday and the Aztecs turned to James McLaughlin instead. Gwynn said he hadn’t got an update on Murphy’s status, but said he "was out of it" this morning.
Strasburg, who was named the Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, has a 1.59 ERA. In 90 1/3 innings, he’s allowed 16 earned runs with 128 strikeouts and 13 walks. Opponents are hitting .178.
-Trae Thompson

Rebels upset Aztecs, 6-2

The No.6 seed UNLV Rebels broke a 2-2 tie with four runs in the top of the ninth to upset No.3 San Diego State in the opening game of the Mountain West Conference tournament today at Lupton Stadium.
The Aztecs (30-27) got a dominant outing from starter James McLaughlin, who had a no-hitter through five innings. McLaughlin (3-2) allowed one baserunner in that span when he hit Michael Brenly in the second. UNLV (22-35) got its first hit in the top of the sixth when Steve Rinaudo singled to left field.
The Rebels took a 2-0 lead, but the Aztecs added a run in both the sixth and eighth innings to tie the game at 2-2.
McLaughlin (3-2) went 8 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, one walk and six runs (four earned), while striking out six. He threw 120 pitches, 75 of them for strikes.
UNLV advances to face No.1 seed TCU tomorrow night at 7 p.m. -Trae Thompson

Tied up

Started the ninth here, and it's 2-2. The Aztecs scored in the bottom of the eighth on Brandon Glover's single to center. -Trae

Second lowest

About to begin the eighth inning, and both the Aztecs and Rebels are in a low scoring game. It would tie the second-lowest scoring game between the two since 2001. That year, UNLV beat the Aztecs 1-0 on May 16. In 2003, San Diego State won 3-0 on May 4. -Trae