San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg discovered he can't make history every time he takes the mound, but that didn't stop Strasburg from trying in last night's Mountain West Conference game against TCU.

The sophomore right-hander did not allow a baserunner until TCU's Ben Carruthers spoiled the perfect game with a double to left-center leading off the seventh.

Strasburg settled for a one-hitter in SDSU's 4-1 win over the Horned Frogs at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

“I wasn't really happy or mad,” Strasburg said when his bid for the school's first perfect game was broken up. “I was just trying to keep the team in the game.”

Strasburg has developed something of a following since striking out a school-record 23 two weeks ago in a one-hit win over Utah.

Last night there was a fan putting up K's on the fence along the first-base line after strikeouts. There was a co-ed behind home plate holding a sign that read: “Yo mama let u date?” And there was the crowd raising its voice whenever Strasburg got two strikes on a batter.

Strasburg touched 99 mph with his fastball. His final pitch of the game was 96 mph. He allowed the one hit, one walk and struck out 13. Strasburg and USD's Brian Matusz now share the national lead with 99 strikeouts.

“You're watching a guy learn how to do his craft, and he's doing it on the fly,” SDSU coach Tony Gwynn said. “He's recognizing things and making adjustments.

“Watching him continue to mature and really start to understand the art of pitching is just beautiful.”

SDSU led 2-0 through six innings. Both runs were scored by catcher Erik Castro, who led the Aztecs (25-17, 11-5 MWC) with three hits.

TCU (27-15, 11-5) made it 2-1 in the seventh when Carruthers scored on an infield out after going to third on a wild pitch.

In the eighth, SDSU's Garett Green made TCU pay for an intentional walk to teammate Nick Romero, following with a two-out, two-run triple to make it 4-1.

USD wins 14th straight

USD's school-record roll continued with an 11-4 West Coast Conference victory over Loyola Marymount at Cunningham Stadium.

It was the 14th straight win for the No. 11-ranked Toreros (33-11, 11-2). Junior left-hander Brian Matusz (9-1) allowed six hits and three unearned runs in seven innings while striking out nine Lions (20-21, 5-8).