Aztecs drop ninth straight in walk-off fashion to the New Mexico Lobos 9-7

The San Diego State baseball team (11-32, Mountain West 5-16) fell to the New Mexico Lobos (23-10, Mountain West 12-9) as a bottom-of-the-ninth grand slam walked it off for the Lobos with a final score of 9-7 at Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque on Sunday. 

The Aztecs dropped their ninth game in a row as they were swept on the road by the Lobos. This leaves the Aztecs’ season record vs the Lobos at 2-4 in the regular season. 

 The Scarlet and Black jumped off to an early start as a Jake Jackson sacrifice fly to center field scored a tagging runner on third Finley Bates to give them a 1-0 advantage. 

Another run would come across to score in the top of the third as a double to left center by Tino Bethancoirt scored Jackson from first base. 

They continued to pile on the pressure as RBIs from Jackson, Bethancourt and Sipe extended the Aztec lead to 5-0 after the top half of the fifth inning. 

In the bottom of the fifth, a New Mexico two-out double to right center by Reed Spenrath put the Lobos on the board, 5-1. 

But the Aztecs didn’t take their foot off the gas, with players on the corners a triple from Jackson scored both runners to tack on two more runs for the Aztecs, making the ballgame 7-1 after the top half of the sixth inning. 

The bottom of the sixth inning saw New Mexico’s Josh McAlister and Khalil Walker hit a pair of solo home runs to make the score 7-3 and give momentum to the Lobos as Aztec starting pitcher Xavier Cardenas saw his last inning of the game. 

San Diego State pitcher Xavier Cardenas (1-5) had a solid outing for the Aztecs, throwing in six innings and six strikeouts, which allowed six hits and three runs. 

The New Mexico offense was too much to handle for the Aztecs as the Lobos scored eight unanswered runs, including the bottom of the ninth inning walk-off grand slam by New Mexico’s Devon Dixon that ended the game at a final score of 9-7.  

Jake Jackson was the standout player for the Aztecs hitting 3-4, four RBIs and hit a single, double and triple, which made him only a homerun shy of achieving the cycle. 

The Aztecs return to the diamond on the road vs the CSUN Matadors at Matador Field on Tuesday, April 30 at 3 p.m. as they look to put an end to the losing streak.