ASU's Leake takes no-hitter into 8th vs. Missouri

Right-hander Mike Leake, the pride of Fallbrook High, carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning on Friday against Missouri before the Tigers' Andrew Thigpen doubled to break it up. Leake got three straight outs after that and left after eight innings with a 2-0 lead

Baseball America's John Manuel was at the game on the first day of the DeMarini Invitational and watched Leake win the duel against Missouri's Kyle Gibson. Leake, the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year last year, is already 2-0 this season. He came into the season with a 24-5 career record, one of only three Sun Devils pitchers to win 20+ games coming into their junior year.

Here's the link to Manuel's report: LEAKE STORY

BA ranks Leake No. 22 among its top 100 College Prospects.

Strasburg deals against Nevada

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.

Lavigne earns MWC Pitcher of the Week

San Diego State junior right-hander Tyler Lavigne was named Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Week for the two-hit shutout he tossed Sunday in the Aztecs' 3-0 victory over 11th-ranked USD.

Lavigne, a transfer from the College of Southern Nevada, allowed only four balls to be hit out of the infield, three of them fly balls caught for outs. He retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing up an infield single open the fourth inning. That base runner was short-lived, however, as a double play and strikeout ended the inning.

Lavigne, using an excellent sinker, got 18 ground ball outs. He struck out five and walked one.

Observations from opening weekend

It seems like the opening weekend of the 2009 season took forever to get here. And it did. Darn universal start date (two years ago USD and San Diego State had played more than a dozen games by this point). But that's an old rant. What's new? Here's a few observations:

— Friday's season opener gave us the first glimpse of SDSU All-American Stephen Strasburg, and the junior right-hander from West Hill High didn't disappoint. Strasburg opened the game with a 98 mph fastball, touched 99 later in the inning and dominated Bethune Cookman. And it wasn't as if Strasburg was in midseason form. He struggled more with his .

— There were several memorable moments Saturday at the MLB Urban Youth Academy, from Duke Snider and Frank Robinson throwing out first pitches to the Bethune Cookman and Southern marching bands entertaining the crowd. The 60-member Bethune band, accompanied by four gyrating dancers, livened things up along the third-base line adjacent to the USD dugout. They were all over Toreros shortstop Sean Nicol whenever he jogged back to the dugout after an at-bat, giving Nicol his marching orders: "left, right, left, right, left, right. . . ." Among those introduced during the day was actor James Van Der Beek. His baseball connection wasn't clear. I don't recall ever seeing him swing a bat on "Dawson's Creek." He did make a pitch for Katie Holmes, though.

— The Toreros have high hopes this season for USD sophomore right-hander Kyle Blair, but he was plagued Saturday against Bethune Cookman with the inconsistency that marked his freshman season last year. He hit three batters in the first inning, and was further hindered by the plate umpire's inability to identify the strike zone. Blair bears watching to see how quickly he can get it together. When he was good last year, he was great.

— A couple of local freshmen made impressive debuts. USD's Austin Green (Patrick Henry), who got an opportunity with teammate Bryan Haar (Grossmont) nursing a sore hamstring, collected a few hits to make a case for a regular spot in the starting lineup. SDSU's Ryan O'Sullivan stood out defensively at shortstop. It's early — real early — but O'Sullivan has the potential to be something special for the Aztecs before he's done.

— If SDSU junior right-hander Tyler Lavigne is even close to as good this season as he was in pitching a two-hitter Sunday at USD, then the Aztecs' starting rotation could have the depth to carry the club to the postseason for the first time since 1991.

SDSU's Lavigne two-hits USD

San Diego State junior right-hander Tyler Lavigne was a bundle of nerves warming up in the bullpen before yesterday’s game against USD.

“I get nervous,” said Lavigne, a transfer from College of Southern Nevada who was making his first start in an Aztecs uniform.
Lavigne said he sometimes needs 20 minutes of pregame throwing on the sidelines “to get all my adrenaline out.”
When Lavigne took the mound against the Toreros he said he was still shaking, although he could have fooled anyone watching.


Lavigne sure fooled the No. 11-ranked Toreros, tossing a two-hit shutout in the Aztecs’ 3-0 win as a near-capacity crowd of 717 looked on under a canopy of clouds at Cunningham Stadium.

“He just threw strikes,” said USD coach Rich Hill. “Everything was at the knees. When you locate underneath the kneecaps to both sides of the plate, good things are going to happen. We just pounded the ball into the ground all game long.”

Lavigne pitched to just two batters over the minimum through the first six innings. An infield single by Kevin Muno in the fourth inning was the Toreros’ only hit before Steven Chatwood’s two-out double in the seventh.

“He kept the ball down in the zone all day and threw a good mix of pitches,” said Muno “We couldn’t really guess on any pitches.”

The Aztecs (2-1) collected eight hits off three USD pitchers, who combined to hit six batters. Jomel Torres led SDSU with two hits and teammate Easton Gust had two RBI.

SDSU scored single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings and could have (should have?) had more but for two double plays turned by the Toreros (2-1).

It didn’t matter the way Lavigne was pitching. He never labored during a 105-pitch outing in which he faced the minimum six times — including the eighth and ninth innings — and never faced more than four batters in an inning.

Lavigne, who struck out five and walked one, said his recipe for success was simple: “Keep the ball low, get ground balls and not stress out too much.”

Utilizing his command and a strong sinkerball will make Lavigne a nice compliment to hard-throwing Stephen Strasburg and Nate Solow at the top of the SDSU rotation.

It also will ratchet up this rivalry.

USD had dominated the series in recent years, winning nine of 11 games before the Aztecs won three of four games to open the 2008 season.

“It really hadn’t been a rivalry until last year,” said SDSU coach Tony Gwynn. “USD had pounded us pretty good. Last year we were able to turn it around a little bit. Anytime these two teams get together it’s going to be competitive and spirited.”

The teams meet for a four-game series March 5-8.

Perhaps USD will have figured out Lavigne by then. The Toreros sure had no answers against him yesterday.