Charles McAdoo (Photo by Kavin Mistry)
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – BSB Beat Reporter
SDSU 8 (4-15, 0-6) vs SJSU 9 (12-8, 5-4)
Winning pitcher: Joey Cammarata (2-0)
Losing pitcher: Jadon Bercovich (1-2)
Down 6-1 in the sixth inning, the Spartans appeared satisfied with two wins and were ready to mail in the third game.
Minus a Dalton Bowling home run in the second inning where he stood at home plate and marveled at his creation the way dads admire well-done seared steaks on the barbecue during the Fourth of July, there wasn’t much to write home about.
Following Bowling’s blast in the second, the Aztecs scored three runs in the third and three in the fourth to build a substantial lead.
Then the sixth inning came around and the Spartans showed there was still meat on the bone left to rip off.
It started with a Makana Olaso single to bring in James Shimashita from second and capitalized with Bowling hitting his second home run of the day, this one good for three runs.
A compact and quick whipping of the bat head through the zone to destroy a pitch on the inner third of the plate to bring the Spartans within one run.
Reliever Corey Sanchez was coming off two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh, but ran into trouble after giving up solo homers to Tino Bethancourt and Cole Carigg.
The four run sixth inning looked to be nothing more than a filibuster before the Aztecs returned to their rightful place at the top of the mountain for game two of the double header and final game of the series.
But, if you’ve spent time watching the Spartans play in 2022 then you’d assume another comeback was on its way.
And you would be correct.
Charles McAdoo started the inning off with a single and another multi-run rally as in motion.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Hunter Dorraugh sent Aztecs’ center fielder Cole Carigg on a mad dash to the wall.
Carigg’s dead sprint wasn’t enough as the ball found real estate and after a Danny Zimmerman single, the Spartans were down one run heading into the top of the ninth.
Accomplishing the second walk-off win of the season started with Joey Cammarata delivering a scoreless ninth and that’s exactly what Cammarata did, going 1-2-3 with ease.
By punching in a flawless ninth, Cammarata kept momentum flowing and made it feel like the Spartans were bombing down a hill rather than trying to push up a hill.
The bottom of the ninth for the Aztecs couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start.
Robert Hamchuk hit a comebacker that ricocheted off of Aztecs’ reliever Jason Bercovich’s foot.
The single was followed by Shimashita taking a pitch off of the foot to put two on with no outs.
Bases then became juiced after Bercovich decided to intentionally walk Charles McAdoo to load the bases after throwing a wild pitch that advanced Hamchuk and Shimashita to first base.
Makana Olaso stepped to the plate with one goal in mind: put the ball in play.
Technically he did put it in play, just happened to be backwards instead of forwards.
Olaso’s tomahawk chop at a high fastball worked in the Spartans favor as the ball pogoed out of catcher Poncho Ruiz’s glove to the backstop.
Hamchuk’s self described “tunnel vision” on his way to the plate was the final touches on a three-game sweep.
The Spartans entered the Friday down in the dumps riding a four-game losing streak and left singing for joy after notching their first conference-sweep of the year.