Thon Hits Grand Slam as Padres Defeat Stars
Dickie Thon’s bases-loaded homer capped a tie-breaking six-run outburst in the eighth inning as the Padres concluded their exhibition baseball season Sunday with an 8-3 victory over their Pacific Coast League affiliate, the Las Vegas Stars.
Las Vegas scored its first two runs in the second inning on consecutive home runs by Brad Pounders and Jerald Clark.
The score remained tied until the Padres, with two out and nobody on in the eighth, broke the tie on a single by Carmelo Martinez and another single by Shawn Abner before Thon hit the grand slam.
The victory gave the Padres a split in their two-game weekend series here.
GOLF
Defending champion John Sosa of El Paso, Tex. shot a three-under-par 69 on Sunday for a three-shot victory in the Woodlands Junior Golf Classic, the first stop of the 21-event American Junior Golf Assn. tour, at the Woodlands, Tex.
Sosa’s 36-hole total of 138 was ahead of two-time Player of the Year Phil Mickelson of San Diego, who was in a three-way tie with Sosa on Saturday but had a 72 Sunday to finish at 141 in the boys’ 15-18 age division.
In the girls’ division, Dana Arnold of Modesto had to battle through nine holes of sudden death playoff before a birdie gave her a victory over Brandie Burton of Rialto. Both shot 145. Christy Erb of Bonita tied Vicki Goetze of Hull, Ga. for third at 146.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
San Diego State sophomore left-hander John Hemmerly struck out 18 batters to break a nine-year-old school record as San Diego State swept a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader from visiting Colorado State at Smith Field. Hemmerly (4-2) gave up six hits and didn’t walk a batter in going the distance to lead SDSU (23-13-1, 6-2) to a 5-0 victory in the second game.
Hemmerly, a Mission Bay High graduate, broke Bud Black’s record of 16 strikeouts set in 1979 against Texas El Paso.
In the first game, junior right-hander John Marshall threw a one-hitter as SDSU won, 3-0.
The only hit against Marshall (5-1) was a single in the fourth. The only other runner to reach base walked in the fifth. Colorado St. is 7-16, 0-4.