San Diego State sophomore right-hander Stephen Strasburg is the closest thing to a sure thing in college baseball these days.

Strasburg (8-1) put up eye-popping numbers again last night, allowing two hits and striking out 15 in an 8-1 Mountain West Conference victory at BYU.

SDSU (29-21, 15-7 MWC) built a 4-1 lead through six innings, highlighted by home runs from Nick Romero and Erik Castro. BYU (19-31, 7-12) committed three errors in the ninth inning that helped the Aztecs four more runs.

The victory lifted SDSU into a second-place tie with New Mexico (13-5), although the Aztecs trail the Lobos by two games in the loss column. The top two teams in the MWC receive first-round byes in the conference tournament.

Strasburg has been selected MWC Pitcher of the Week five of the past six weeks. An illness prevented him from pitching the one week he didn't get the honor. It will be difficult not to give Strasburg the award again next week.

Singles in the fourth – when BYU scored an unearned run – and ninth innings were the only hits allowed by Strasburg, who walked one.

Strasburg raised his nation-leading strikeout total to 125 and broke the SDSU single-season record in the process. Rob Brown held the record with 122 in 1989.

Strasburg, who improved to 6-0 in conference play, has allowed just one earned run in the past 47 innings. In his past five starts, Strasburg has tossed two one-hitters, a two-hitter and a three-hitter. He allowed four hits in seven shutout innings in the other outing.

– KIRK KENNEY

Softball

Cal Baptist's Melanie Ahumada (26-2) threw a five-hitter in a 5-1 victory over Point Loma Nazarene University in the championship game of the Region II Tournament in Riverside. The Sea Lions finish the season 44-9; Cal Baptist is 54-6. . . . Humboldt State topped UCSD 3-1 on the second day of the NCAA Division II West Regional Championships in Arcata. Melissa Ward scattered seven hits for UCSD (32-24). Lizzy Prescott (39-11) went the distance for Humboldt (48-18).