Patience Doesn’t Pay for San Diego State

The fastest hook in the West--and any other direction for that matter--was uncharacteristically patient Thursday, and as a result, the San Diego State baseball team is one loss from elimination in the NCAA Division I West Regional II.

Aztec Coach Jim Dietz, a man who changes pitchers like Madonna changes boyfriends, stuck with starting pitcher Brian Holliday a few batters too long in first-round action at Fresno State’s Beiden Field.

So Stanford rallied for four runs in the seventh inning and defeated San Diego State, 12-5. The Aztecs will play Portland, a 13-1 loser to Miami on Thursday, at noon today. The loser is eliminated from the six-team regional field.

Stanford, which got 3 2/3 strong innings of relief from Scott Weiss, is 38-21. The Cardinal will play Fresno State, a 7-2 winner over Cal State Northridge.

San Diego State (43-20) entered regional play having made 169 pitching changes, third-most in NCAA history. Dietz’s 1982 and ’84 teams are in the top two spots with 194 and 175, respectively.

But it wasn’t until Holliday had allowed four hits, another hard-hit ball that was scored an error, and hit a batter that Dietz finally came out to get him in the seventh. By that time, Stanford had turned a one-run deficit into an 8-5 lead.

Dietz claimed he was following routine by staying with Holliday until he reached the 115-pitch mark. He focused the blame on the Aztec defense, which made two errors and broke down on fundamentals in several other instances.

“With a little luck, Brian has a better fate,” Dietz said.

David Holbrook’s two-run single was the big hit of the inning for Stanford, which also benefited from a run-scoring single by Jeffrey Hammonds and a sacrifice fly by Steve Solomon.

Three Aztec relievers followed Holliday, and none had much luck stopping Stanford. The Cardinal finished with 16 hits, including a home run and three triples. Stanford added four more runs in the eighth.

San Diego State, which had 11 hits, jumped out on top with two unearned runs in the first on a throwing error by Holbrook, the Stanford third baseman.

Scott Dennison started the Aztec rally with a single to right. Marcelino Garcia followed with a walk and Bill Dunckel added a single to left, loading the bases.

Steve Boucher then hit a one-hopper at Holbrook, who fielded it cleanly, but his throw to catcher Troy Tallman was up the first line and went to the backstop. Dennison and Garcia scored.

Stanford also capitalized on an error to strike back quickly in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, Holbrook singled to right. David McCarty followed that by hitting a deep drive to right. Aztec outfielder Brent Ferguson got to the ball on the warning track, but dropped it for an error.

Hammonds, the next batter, made it a costly mistake, lining a one-strike pitch over the fence down the left-field fence to give the Cardinal a 3-2 advantage. It was Hammonds’ 14th homer of the season.

The Aztecs regained the lead in the third on three consecutive hits and a ground out. Dennison again ignited the offense, this time with a double to right-center. Garcia and Dunckel followed with singles, Dunckel’s scoring Dennison and tieing the score, 3-3.

A ground out by Steve Boucher scored Garcia and gave San Diego the lead.

Garcia extended the Aztec advantage in the fifth with his third home run of the season.

Stanford trimmed the margin to one run in the bottom of the inning on a single by David Cornell and a triple by Holbrook.