Baseball beat reporters Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) and Levern Johnson (@inkedjournalist)
SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo decried who the Spartans are expected to be on paper heading into the highly anticipated 2023 season.
“Paper doesn’t win games, paper’s not going to go out and compete,” Sanfilippo declared in the season’s introductory press conference. The pre-season coaches poll has the Spartans slated to finish second in the Mountain West.
After taking two of three from Loyola Marymount this weekend, SJSU showed that the preseason hype wasn’t entirely a misprint, but there were a few typos.
Levern Johnson: Starting Pitching thrived
Something new is boiling over in the San Jose State rotation and it’s a recipe for success.
Starting pitchers’ Jonathon Clark, Micky Thompson and Aaron Eden thrived, keeping Lions batters in check through the first few innings of each contest, even overcoming a few scoring threats.
Coincidentally, each of them lasted five innings and combined for a 3.00 ERA, which gave the Spartans some breathing room needed to collect two out of three games.
First-year pitching coach Mat Keplinger appears to have things trending in the right direction.
Last year, SJSU finished with the second-highest ERA (6.92) in the Mountain West and Clark was the only starter with an ERA below 5.30.
Matt Weiner: Thunder struck
The unfamiliarly high expectations comes from the thunder in the bats of returners Charles McAdoo, Hunter Dorraugh, Robert Hamchuk and Dalton Bowling.
Thunder struck down this weekend with much of it coming from Bowling, Dorraugh and Jack Colette. The trio scored 13 of SJSU’s 21 runs and contributed to 64% of SJSU’s hits this weekend.
And it was Bowling who sent a chest-high fastball from LMU’s Michael Nunez into stratospheres unknown to kick off Sunday’s 12-2 rout.
A couple innings later, Dorraugh got a chest-high fastball of his own and sent it sky-high for his first home run of the year. A Preseason All-Conference Team pick, Dorraugh’s looking to capitalize off his 15 home run season from a year ago, which tied a school record.
Bowling and Dorraugh combined to slash .530/1.039/1.668 this weekend which helped pick up the slack for First-Team Preseason All American McAdoo who batted .214 and accumulated just four total bases all weekend.
Matt Weiner: Near flop, sheer flop and a smash hit
In true La La Land fashion, SJSU’s bullpen had a near flop, a sheer flop but ended the weekend with a smash hit.
Near flop
On opening night, closer Darren Jansen made a comfy 7-3 ninth inning lead a nerve-wracking 7-6 lead after allowing a three-run blast to Jared Thomas with two outs.
However, it was a near flop because Jansen, a Preseason All-Conference Team pick, got Diego Baquiero to fly out to center to finish the game. Lots of harm, but no foul.
Sheer flop
On Saturday night, there was lots of harm and as a result, some dire consequences.
In the seventh inning, relievers Cade Van Allen and Corey Sanchez turned a 2-1 lead into a 5-2 deficit allowing two runs a piece in the seventh inning.
SDSU-transfer Nathan Hansen was able to clean up the damage, getting two outs, allowing one inherited runner to score, but in the following inning, with the bases loaded beamed Sam Biller which made the game 6-2.
Smash hit
The eight runs allowed between the bullpen on both nights was evened out on Sunday after Jansen went a scoreless three innings in relief for Eden and Keaton Chase registered a scoreless ninth – his first time pitching in over two years after undergoing Tommy John.
Matt Weiner: Moving forward
SJSU doesn’t get the luxury of a day off and will play Cal Poly today at 1:35 p.m. to begin a 15 game home stretch. On Thursday, the University of Washington will come in for a four game series.
