College Baseball : San Diego State Clinches Division in Tournament

Mark Grace hit a two-run home run and Deron Johnson and Rick Cortez each drove in a pair of runs to lead the 18th-ranked San Diego State baseball team to a 9-4 victory over Arizona State in Riverside Tournament Friday night and present Coach Jim Dietz with his 600th career win.

The victory, combined with a 4-2 win over UCLA earlier Friday, improved the Aztec record to 30-12 overall (5-1 in the tournament) and allowed SDSU to clinch the Blue Division championship. The Aztecs, who are the defending champions, will play for the tournament title at 7 tonight against either Oregon State or UCLA.

Richard Holsman (2-2) went all the way on a six-hitter to lead SDSU past Arizona State. Against UCLA, Scott Lawrence made his first start of the season and pitched six innings to pick up the win.

In other action:

Loyola Marymount 12, USD 6--Reggie Lambert had two hits, three stolen bases and scored five runs and Billy Bean had three hits and three RBIs to lead the Lions to a West Coast Athletic Conference win at USD. Second baseman Paul Van Stone had three hits, including two doubles, for the Toreros. Gus Hein (4-3) was the winner for the Lions (13-17, 2-5). Tom Seyler (4-4) took the loss for USD, which fell to 12-20-1 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

St. Mary’s 2, UC San Diego 0--The Gaels scored twice in the third inning on three walks, a single and a fielder’s choice and went on to the nonconference win at Moraga. Derek Hogerheide (1-1) picked up the win for St. Mary’s, a Division 1 team. Dan Healy (1-3) was the loser. David Stanovich and Bob Natal had two hits apiece for the Tritons, who are 14-14-1. The Gaels are 16-14.