By Daniel Reedy:
Starting pitcher Dominic Purpura and the Aztecs’ top-heavy lineup defeated the Spartans in the second contest of the three-game series.
Host San Diego State (18-9) clinched the series with a 7-3 victory over San Jose State (10-16).
Purpura tossed his first complete game of the season, giving up 3 runs off 9 hits and just 1 walk. The southpaw advanced to 5-0 for the year with a 3.60 ERA.
This wasn’t the first time the Spartans fell victim to Purpura. He hurled a shutout last season against SJSU in San Jose on May 19.
The Aztecs were led by their first through cleanup hitters’ 6 hits, 5 runs and 6 RBIs. After leaving five stranded runners through the first three innings but got to Matt Brown in the fourth, tagging the Spartan starter for 5 runs. Brown took the loss, dropping to 2-4 with a 6.62 ERA.
Outfielder Chris Williams was one of the bright spots for SJSU, going 2 for 4 and is now 5 for 7 in the series.
David Campbell led the Spartans with a pair of RBIs and also had 2 hits, including his first triple of the season. He scored on the next play via Shane Timmons’ sacrifice fly.
Spartans’ head coach Jason Hawkins used three substitutes who batted a combined 1 for 4. Hawkins sent four relievers to the mound after pulling Brown, the first of which Cameron Keup who conceded 2 runs in his one inning of work. Keup now carries a 9.56 ERA, the highest among Spartan pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched.
While Eric Anderson walked his only batter, SJSU’s Jackson Cunningham and Jakob Gonzalez threw a combined three innings of 1-hit ball with 4 Ks in relief.
Aaron Pleschner and Kellen Strahm went a combined 1 for 9, but still remain atop the SJSU stat sheet and are the only Spartans batting over .300. The team sits at the bottom of the Mountain West in batting with a .264 average.
In fact, the Spartans are in last in nearly every major offensive category: runs, hits, on base percentage, doubles, triples, home runs, among others.
However, they do lead the MW in stolen bases. Strahm tops the leaderboard with 8 SBs this year.
SJSU is still searching for its first road win of the season as the loss drops them to 0-13 away from home.
The Spartans hope to end the road-losing streak and take one win away from the trip to San Diego. First pitch of Game 3 is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.