Aztecs Knock Colorado State’s Petrified Field

From the look of things, San Diego State’s victory Sunday at Colorado State appeared to be slugfest. The Aztecs had 25 runs on 27 hits. The Rams compiled 16 runs and 13 hits.

But Jim Dietz, SDSU baseball coach, called it something much different.

“It was kind of a tragedy,” Dietz said.

Dietz attributed at least 16 runs to the altitude and the poor condition of CSU’s field.

The name of the field?

“I don’t think it has a name,” Dietz said. “Maybe it’s best left unnamed.”

Note. The name is Ram Field.

Dietz said the infield was made treacherous because of the wind that had dried out the ground.

“The infielders were fearing for their lives,” he said. “It was a lot like playing on Jack Murphy Stadium parking lot. The dirt was so hard your cleats could not sink down into it. There were numerous balls that were going to be handled, but they turned into bad hops”

But Dietz said the worst hop of the day occurred in the outfield on Derek Vinyard’s single to center field that turned into an inside-the-park home run.

“It was going to be a routine single but the ball hit something, went 20 feet over the center fielder’s head and rolled all the way to the fence,” Dietz said. “The center fielder was charging the ball and by the time they got to the ball, Derek was rounding third baseman. The outfield was kind of like playing on lumpy Astroturf.”

The result of the sloppy playing conditions? Nine errors by SDSU and seven by CSU.

“The whole thing was like watching a track meet,” Dietz said. “All you had to do was make good contact and the ball was going to get through the infield.”

As bad as Ram Field was, Dietz said he has seen another Western Athletic Conference field that is comparable--Dietz also chose to leave that field nameless.

“After taking batting practice, it was like going on as Easter egg hunt trying to find the balls in the outfield,” he said.

Movin up: The Aztecs moved into the top 25 for the first time this season. They were ranked 21st by Collegiate Baseball. But even though Aztecs have won 18 of their last 22 and have greatly improved their chances of qualifying for the NCAA tournament, the tournament committee might frown on SDSU’s five losses to non-Division I teams.

Last chance for Aztec men: In order to qualify for the NCAA team championships, the San Diego men’s tennis team will likely need to win this weekend’s WAC tournament in Salt Lake City. The WAC champion will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Aztecs (15-7) are ranked 23rd by the NCAA in the latest rankings. Only 20 teams qualify for the tournament.

Miller update: With five games left, Point Loma Nazarene’s Rich Miller is on the verge of breaking two single-season baseball records. He is hitting .460, and the school record is .438 by Bill Anderson in 1982, and he has tied the record for doubles with 16.

The Crusaders’ Jack Campbell, a sophomore second baseman from Anchorage, is out for the season after breaking a bone in his foot against Cal Baptist while sliding into second. He left behind some impressive numbers. Campbell hit .347 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs.

Record-setters: The UC San Diego men’s golf team concluded its regular season undefeated for the first time. The Tritons, who finished 16-0, were a combined 272 shots better than their competition.