SDSU Plays Hunch, Defeats Hawaii, 9-2, to Win WAC Crown

It was in the sixth inning of Saturday’s first game that Scott Lawrence had a crazy idea.

San Diego State, losing badly to Hawaii and headed for a second game to decide the Western Athletic Conference baseball championship, needed a pitcher to start Game 2.

“We just pulled one out of the hat,” SDSU Coach Jim Dietz said.

And it was Lawrence. Starting on just one day’s rest, Lawrence pitched the Aztecs to a 9-2 victory over Hawaii and their first WAC championship at Smith Field.

“I’d like to tell you I had it planned like this,” Dietz said, “but there’s no way I could have imagined it all happening like this.”

Lawrence had come up with that idea. He had pitched nine innings Thursday night in SDSU’s first-round victory over New Mexico but he was feeling strong Saturday afternoon.

SDSU lost the first game, 10-3, to set up a second game. Dietz had planned to start Rusty Elsberry in that second game but Elsberry had a sore shoulder.

So Lawrence told Gary Kondratek, the Aztecs’ pitching coach, that he felt fine and could throw a couple of innings.

Kondratek’s response: “I had my doubts.”

So Kondratek cornered Lawrence in the bullpen between games and asked him again.

“Are you sure you feel OK?” he asked.

Lawrence nodded. Kondratek and Dietz decided that Lawrence would start and throw three innings. He threw a lot more than that.

Lawrence pitched 8 innings, allowing 12 hits and a walk, but keeping the Hawaii batters off-balance with his knuckleball.

His performance, in fact, had everyone feeling a bit off-balance.

“I was shaky before the start of game, just hoping we could get a couple of good innings out of him,” Dietz said. “Sometimes you just have to play a hunch and hope it works.”

This Aztec team has been playing hunches for a few weeks now. Ever since SDSU won three games in one day from Utah on April 15 to start its run at the conference title, the team has worn the same set of uniforms.

Gary Brown, the first-base coach, has eaten French toast for breakfast 26 days in a row. Now that SDSU has won the WAC and qualified for the NCAA tournament, which starts in two weeks, Brown says he’ll keep his eating habits the same.

“I might weigh 350 pounds by then,” he said. “But this is worth it.”

The Aztecs came into Saturday’s games with a 17-game conference winning streak. That the streak was snapped in Game 1 wasn’t on anyone’s mind after the second.

“Between games, we all went in and regrouped,” said Lawrence, who was named the tournament’s most outstanding pitcher. “There were a lot of people out there pulling for us and I just had to come through in that second game.”

SDSU made Lawrence’s job a little easier, scoring four times in the bottom of the first inning to chase Hawaii starter Guy Ogawa.

Dave Campagna singled in the first run and Phil Woolsey followed with a two-run double to right-center field. Joey Vierra replaced Ogawa and Steve Montejano greeted him with a double to right, scoring Woolsey.

Hawaii scored once in the second inning, but SDSU got it back in the fourth on an RBI single by freshman center fielder Scott Middaugh.

Middaugh, playing in place of Eric Woods, was 3 for 4.

Woods, the Aztecs’ leading hitter, hit his head against the fence in the second inning of the first game and suffered a mild concussion. He played two more innings before he was forced to come out.

Middaugh gave the Aztecs a sterling effort.

“I didn’t have a center fielder or a starting pitcher,” Dietz said. “Somehow, everything worked out.”

And somehow Lawrence kept shutting the Rainbows down. Despite allowing the 12 hits, he was in trouble only once.

In the second inning, Paul List reached base on an error and moved to third on a double to left by Larry Gonzales.

Lawrence then threw a wild pitch but List, in a moment of indecision, got hung up between third and home. Campagna retrieved the ball and threw to third baseman Tom LeVasseur, who tagged out List in the rundown.

After Dan Nyssen grounded out, Mark McWherter doubled to left, scoring Gonzales. But that was it until the ninth for Hawaii.

With Lawrence finally tiring, the Rainbows got four hits to score their final run. Matt Haar had to wrap it up, inducing Todd Crosby to hit into a game-ending double play.

“I would have liked Scott to go the distance and be the hero but he was wearing down,” Dietz said. “I think he was enough of a hero anyway.