By Benny Garcia — Reporter
San Jose State softball (2-4) will take on Loyola Marymount University Lions (5-5) for a doubleheader in Fullerton, Calif. on Friday.
The Spartans are coming off of a series in which they won two out of three games.
The Spartans came into the series having scored five runs through the first three games of the season. In the series against Saint Mary’s College, SJSU figured it out offensively scoring a total of 22 runs in the series.
They did so by recording 11 extra-base hits which made for half (22) of the hits they had in the series.
The Spartans were taking what was given to them as they drew 15 free passes, and the SJSU offense punished the Gaels for those walks.
Junior utility-player Alyssa Graham helped them win the series by going a combined 7-for-15.
In the second game of the series, Graham drove in four runs on two doubles which led SJSU to the victory.
While the Spartans went on to win the series, their pitching struggled.
SJSU pitching allowed 28 hits in the series, while giving up nine runs.
They have been better at giving up walks; only three Gaels were walked in the series.
The Spartans defense didn’t help out their pitching much either since they committed a total of six errors.
And half of those were committed by sophomore shortstop Jocylyn Vidal in the final game of the series on Sunday afternoon.
In that game, there were four errors committed and a total of seven unearned runs given up.
Their next opponent is the Lions who have struggled mightily on the offensive side.
LMU hitters are hitting for an average of .236 on the season, only scoring 29 runs through 10 games thus far.
However, their pitching has a 3.87 earned run average, which has been strong enough to keep them in games.
The Lions top arm, senior right-hander Marina Vitalich, has hurled four complete games this season with two of those being complete game shutouts.
Vitalich has hurled 35.1 innings this season. she has a .211 batting average against her, only allowing 27 hits in 128 at-bats.
While Vitalich has been the Lions best pitcher, the rest of the pitching staff has struggled.
LMU pitching without Vitalich, has an ERA of 6.92 and a batting average against of .338.
Catch the doubleheader on Friday at 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. on FloSoftball.
Follow Benny on Twitter @TheJetTalk