Rams slip away from Aggies
The Aggies fell to Colorado 11-9 in the final installment of the four-game series Sunday morning.
After striking out three batters in two innings, Utah State pitcher Sixto Cabrera faced all nine CSU batters in 10 at-bats in the top of the third. Cabrera walked two batters, and gave up three singles and a double as the Rams took a 4-0 lead.
The Aggies cut the margin by one in the bottom half of the inning, but the Rams added two more in the top of the fourth to make it 6-1 CSU.
Then Utah State started hitting the ball.
Aggie infielder Kyle Durrant singled to center field and later scored from second on a Colorado State fielding error on catcher Jeff Schiffman’s ground ball to third base.
USU third baseman Brad Singer singled to left field on a hard ground ball to score Schiffman and senior Jaren Tyler two batters later to make it 6-4. Singer scored in his second at-bat of the inning on a double by junior outfielder Tyler Christensen to pull within one.
The Aggie bullpen held CSU scoreless in the next three innings.
Utah State slugger Matt Stranksi hit a three-run shot over the left field fence to give the Aggies an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth and silence the CSU dugout.
The Warwick, New York, native said he thought the home run might have been the game-winning hit.
“That was nice to have,” Stranski said. “We were down a run, and we had a couple baserunners, so to go up two late in the game and the pitching that we have, we were confident.”
It wasn’t so.
The Aggies walked four batters in the top of the eighth inning. Two runners scored when Schiffman threw a pickoff attempt down the right-field line to make it 10-8. Another run crossed the plate when freshman Justin Peterson couldn’t hold on to the tag after pulling in Singer’s wide throw to first base on an easy ground ball and the Aggies lost 11-9.
“We beat ourselves,” Stranski said. “When you have so many errors, you can’t expect to make five or six outs in an inning and hold them to one run.”
Utah State will next face the Rexburg Rebels in a doubleheader beginning at noon on Saturday, Sept. 29 in Providence, Utah.
– tavin.stucki@aggiemail.usu.edu
Twitter: @Stuckiaggies