San Diego State silences Hawaii baseball team in Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament
JAMM AQUINO / FEB. 18
Hawaii head coach Rich Hill, left, talked to his players during the second inning of a game against the Washington State Cougars last Friday at Les Murakami Stadium. UH opened its road trip with a 7-1 loss to San Diego State.
TJ Fondtain and Ricky Tibbett collaborated on a six-hitter to lead San Diego State to a 7-1 baseball victory over Hawaii in tonight’s opening round of the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament in San Diego.
The Rainbow Warriors amassed 26 walks and 12 hit batsmen in splitting their first four games of the season. But tonight, they coaxed one walk and were not beaned in falling to 2-3. The ’Bows play UNLV at 11 a.m. Hawaii time on Saturday.
Fondtain, a left-hander, did not pitch in his first two SDSU seasons. This year, he pitched 4 1/3 innings against California before mystifying the ’Bows. Fondtain retired the first 13 UH batters before second baseman Stone Miyao reached on an error with one out in the fifth. Miyao eventually scored on Dallas Duarte’s two-out single.
But the Aztecs widened a 2-1 lead with a five-run sixth. Three of the Aztecs runs were unearned. UH infielders did not commit an error in the first four games but made two in the SDSU sixth.
Freshman left-hander Corey Ronan, in his UH debut, did not allow a hit in 2 1/3 innings.
The ’Bows loaded the bases in the ninth, but then Duarte grounded into a game-ending double play.
