By Ryan Vermont:
The Spartans are in dire need of a quality outing from one of their starters. Over the course of the four-game-losing streak, the rotation has an ERA of 14.03, having given up 32 hits and walking six in just over 15 innings of work.
Granted the damage came at the hands of an offensively oriented University of New Mexico nationally along with a ranked CSU Fullerton, those numbers cannot carry on.
If San Jose State wants to get back in the win column, it must get its weekend trio of starting pitchers back on track and logging some effective innings.
Josh Nashed- Nashed has shown flashes of being the ace of the Spartans’ rotation but his inconsistency is rampant. After a sophomore year that showed promise, the righty hasn’t shown much improvement in his game so far this season. Before the game against the Lobos, Nashed’s first few starts were solid. Nashed picked up his first win of the season, allowing just one run against BYU, then followed it up in his next outing against UNLV throwing six strong innings with eight punch outs en route to a 6-5 win. Although, his most recent outing was one to forget as he gave up 10 runs in only 4.1 innings pitched.
Matt Brown – Wild and erratic, the lanky junior has had stretches in each start this season where he struggles to find his command. He’s walked 14 batters so far including a dreadful 5 walk outing in his start against UNLV. His off-speed pitches are what tend to get him in trouble and he rarely seems to get through an inning with ease. It’s clear Brown has the stuff to be a solid Saturday starter. He strikes out an average of four batters per game, mainly due to his fastball that clocks in at the 90s.
Graham Gomez – Gomez’s pitches aren’t particularly filthy by any means, but what the lefty does have is control of his arsenal on a consistent basis. Besides his outing against UNLV when he didn’t make it out of the first inning, Gomez has been the most reliable of the three weekend starters even if his record doesn’t show it.
The Spartans are back in conference action this weekend for a three game series against the University of Nevada beginning tonight at 7 p.m.