College baseball wrapup: Aztecs regain top spot in Mountain West

San Diego State restored order in the Mountain West with a weekend sweep of San Jose State that put SDSU back on top of the conference standings.

The Aztecs (25-12, 17-10, .630 MW) won Sunday’s finale 8-3 after taking both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader on 17-3 (7 innings) and 10-6 scores.

SDSU’s offense was led by the catcher position against the Spartans (6-17, 2-8), with sophomore Wyatt Hendrie going 4-for-7 with two homers, five runs scored and nine RBIs in the doubleheader and freshman Poncho Ruiz going 1-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs in the finale.

After being swept a week earlier at Nevada when SDSU’s high-scoring offense went AWOL, the Aztecs came out swinging against San Jose State. They scored 14 runs in the first three innings of the opener. The barrage began with first-inning homers by Hendrie, DH Brian Leonhardt and third baseman Cole Carrigg.

SDSU closer Tre Brown (6-1) responded to the call for his first start after 14 relief appearances and tossed four innings without allowing an earned run to position the Aztecs for victory in the second game of the doubleheader.

Sunday’s finale featured a much-needed mound effort from a staff that has had its struggles. Leonhardt started and allowed only one hit and two unearned runs before handing the ball to Aaron Eden (3-0), who allowed one hit over the next three innings. Four more Aztecs relievers held the Spartans hitless the rest of the way.

SDSU has nine more conference games — all on the road against UNLV, Air Force and New Mexico.

This week: Saturday-Sunday at UNLV, 1 p.m. (DH)/1 p.m.

Toreros update

USD was looking at a lost weekend before a four-run, ninth-inning rally Saturday afternoon at Fowler Park delivered a 13-12 walkoff win against BYU. The victory enabled the Toreros — who lost the first two games of the series 6-4 (10 innings) on Thursday night and 11-10 on Friday night — to avoid a costly sweep.

USD (29-10, 15-6 West Coast Conference) slipped behind idle Gonzaga (27-13, 14-4) for first place in the conference, but the Toreros still control their destiny since they meet the Bulldogs head-to-head in the final weekend of the regular season. USD has this week off for finals, then returns for a series against Portland before meeting Gonzaga.

The Bulldogs, who have been off the past two weeks because of COVID-19 issues within the program, lead the WCC with a .778 winning percentage. USD is second at .714. Third-place Portland (21-21, 13-8, .619) and fourth-place USF (19-21, 14-9, .609) also remain in the title chase.

USD graduate senior DH Thomas Luevano continues to lead the Toreros in hitting with a .356 batting average, 10 homers and 56 RBIs.

This week: Off.

Tritons update

Cal State Fullerton has the greatest history of success in the Big West, but UC San Diego treated the Titans like 98-pound weaklings over the weekend.

Fullerton (19-24, 12-12 Big West) managed to win the opener 6-3 in 16 innings, then watched the visiting Tritons (15-25, 12-16) win 5-2, 7-5 and 6-1 to take the series.

It was the biggest weekend of the year for UCSD, which watched its pitching step up after being batted around during much of the season. The 14 runs allowed in the series was the fewest by the staff in a Big West series.

UCSD senior right-hander Brandon Weed (2-2) finished things off Sunday by allowing one run over seven innings with nine strikeouts.

“Brandon Weed was tremendous, pitching with great poise and competitiveness,” UCSD head coach Eric Newman said. “To come back after a 16-inning fight on Friday and win the series is an incredible accomplishment for these players.”

This week: Friday-Sunday vs. UC Davis, 3 p.m./noon (DH)/1 p.m..

Sea Lions update

Point Loma Nazarene (11-21) concluded the season with a split of its four-game nonconference series with Fresno Pacific, winning the opener 14-3 and the finale 5-0. Redshirt freshman right-hander Dylan Miller (4-3) closed out the campaign with a four-hit shutout.

Redshirt freshman infielder Otto Kemp was the Sea Lions’ offensive leader on the season, batting .360 with 10 home runs and 21 RBIs and .760 in slugging percentage over 32 games.

Junior outfielder/left-hander Baxter Halligan was a two-way standout, batting .311 with 18 RBIs while going 3-1 on the mound with a 2.45 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 22 innings.