Victory Over USC is 800th of Coaching Career for SDSU’s Dietz

Saturday, Jim Dietz survived what he called the worst experience in all his 19 years of coaching at San Diego State. His team lost an 8-3 lead to Nevada-Reno and went on to lose, 9-8, in a game he said was marked by terrible umpiring.

Then, before Tuesday’s game against USC, Dietz strained his back trying to pull a rain-soaked tarp off Smith Field.

“I almost didn’t make it out here tonight,” Dietz said.

Fortunately for Dietz, he made it. Although the Aztecs blew another late-inning lead, they came back to score three runs in the eighth and give him his 800th coaching victory with an 9-6 victory over eighth-ranked USC.

In 19 seasons at San Diego State, Dietz has compiled an 800-438-15 record.

“I had no idea where I’d be when I took over here,” Dietz said. “I knew I had a real challenge ahead of me.”

Dietz, 51, has mostly answered it. He has been to six NCAA tournaments and had 14 consecutive winning seasons.

But Dietz said it’s becoming more difficult each year.

“It’s much harder than it was eight years ago with all the budget cutbacks,” Dietz said. “It’s tough for us to recruit without a decent facility. I don’t know how many more I’ve got left in me.”

If Dietz never gets to 900, he will surely remember this one and the two-run double by Brian Grebeck that gave it to him.

With two outs and Scott Dennison on third, USC pitcher Eric Hughes intentionally walked Jeff Barry to get to Grebeck. But Grebeck lined Hughes’s fastball up the alley in left-center field to score Barry and Dennison.

“You expect him to do it,” Dietz said. “He’s been with us two years.”

Said Grebeck: “He made a mistake, and I just hit it. I was glad that we finally got him his 800th.”

Anthony Johnson followed with another double, his third hit of the game, to make it 9-6.

Rusty Filter (4-2) pitched the last 1 2/3 innings for the victory.

SDSU (30-14) took a 5-3 lead in the fifth on Johnson’s walk, a Darin McGhee sacrifice and back-to-back doubles by Steve Boucher and Bill Dunckel. The Aztecs added another run in the sixth on Grebeck’s double, a sacrifice and a wild pitch.

USC (28-15, ranked sixth by Baseball America) tied it at six by scoring three times on only one hit. After throwing three hitless innings, the Aztecs’ Brian Holliday walked two batters and allowed a hit to load the bases. Filter replaced Holliday and walked in a run. A fielder’s choice scored another, and Scott Dennison’s throwing error allowed the tying run.

SDSU leaves today for Hawaii, where it will play a four-game series against the Rainbows beginning Friday. The Aztecs are 10-2 in the Western Athletic Conference, leading second-place Wyoming by two games and Hawaii by 2 1/2.