San Diego State junior right-hander Stephen Strasburg had it going in his 2009 home debut against Nevada, striking out 16 batters in 6 2/3 innings and clocking 102 mph on the radar gun in SDSU's 5-2 win Thursday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
Strasburg struck out the side in the first, third, fifth and sixth innings. He allowed a one-out single to right field by Nevada's Brett Hart in the second inning. Hart was erased on an attempted steal of second, meaning Strasburg had still pitched to the minimum. Rght fielder Cory Vaughn drop a fly ball that would have ended the fourth, allowing the Wolf Pack to extend the inning with a single by Shaun Kort before Strasburg struck out Brett Hart to get out of it. Nick Malino singled in the fifth for Nevada's third hit.
The Aztecs broke through for three runs in the third — all with two outs — on a wild pitch and a two-run single by freshman Brandon Meredith. SDSU added two more runs in the fifth.
That was more than enough offense the way Strasburg was throwing. He departed with two outs in the seventh after allowing two runs on a two-out walk, a double and a single that made it 5-2.
Strasburg's line for the game — 6 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 16 SO, 1 BB.
Strasburg struck out 11 last week in the season-opener, a 6-3 win over Bethune Cookman at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton. He struck out every starter in the lineup at least once, although he had to work at times to stay in command. He topped out at 99 mph against Bethune Cookman. Word is that he hit 102 mph on back-to-back pitches during an intersquad three weeks ago. Strasburg did it for the first time — seven times, actually — in a game tonight against Nevada.
More on Strasburg's velocity here in the game story I did for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Strasburg's next scheduled outing is Thursday, March 5, in a 2 p.m. game at USD.
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