Split with BYU Upsets Aztec Coach

After opening Western Athletic Conference play with a four game sweep of Utah March 23-25, the Aztecs appeared poised to continue their run right into the top 25.

Some say a ranking would have been possible had they continued their winning ways last weekend against Brigham Young, which after playing 26 games on the road appeared to be physically taxed entering the series.

But it didn’t turn out that way. The Aztecs could gain only a split with the road-weary Cougars, who came back to win the second game of double headers both Friday and Saturday. In the series finale Saturday night, BYU managed a 9-5 victory--and four of the Aztec runs came in the final inning, the bottom of the seventh.

SDSU managed only two hits through six innings, at which time Coach Jim Dietz made wholesale changes.

Dietz was so dismayed with his team that he spent nearly 20 minutes with them behind closed doors. When the clubhouse was finally opened to reporters, one player looked up at two writers and, in a hint at what kind of mood Dietz was in, said, “Good luck.”

Yes, Dietz was angry.

“I don’t like to lose,” he gruffly explained.

And he likes it even less when he feels his team gave away the victory. Dietz said that several of his players missed signs in the early innings of Saturday’s second game and thus allowed BYU to take an overwhelming advantage, which reached 8-1 after five innings.

“So we had to play catch-up ball,” Dietz said. “And that’s one thing you can’t do against BYU.”

The more Dietz thought about it, the more he disliked the effort put forth by his team.

He said his young players appeared to be content with simply winning the first game. He complained about some of his players who went to a concert after Friday’s double header, which concluded just after 10 p.m. He was upset about his players swinging at bad pitches and letting BYU starter Mike Nielsen get off easy.

In short, he simply felt his team let a huge opportunity slip by.

“When you’re going for (the WAC championship) and you have the defending champion in your place . . . “ said Dietz, not finishing his thought.

The Aztecs are 22-12, 6-2 in WAC.

The Cougars, who had lost four of their last six coming into the SDSU series, decided that if they hoped to defend their WAC title, well, then they had better start doing it against the Aztecs.

“Coming in here and opening our (WAC) season against a fine team like San Diego State was the best thing that could have happened to us,” said Gary Pullins, BYU coach. “It brought us out of our funk. We knew we couldn’t lollygag around because we were playing a darn good ballclub.”

Now the Cougars (16-14, 2-2 in WAC) can finally unpack their bags. They’ll play their next 14 at home.

“Normally when we finally get home,” Pullins said, “we fire up and start winning.”