By Daniel Reedy
The San Jose State Spartans (24-14, 4-5 in MW) enter their second-to-last homestand of the season against the Boise State Broncos (24-12, 6-6 in MW) following a 2-1 series loss against Colorado State last weekend.
In the preseason, this weekend’s series looked to be an easy sweep for SJSU.
Boise State was predicted to finish last in the Mountain West Conference, but currently sits in a tie for third place, five spots ahead of SJSU.
The Broncos rank second in the conference in runs scored, hits, stolen bases and overall winning percentage. Boise State is led by one of the conference’s top hitters: Rebekah Cervantes.
Cervantes is third in batting average (.442) and on base percentage (.523); is second in runs (37), hits (46) and slugging percentage (.769); and first in RBIs (40). The second-year shortstop was last year’s Mountain West Freshman of the Year, posting a .342/.386/.658 slash line.
In addition to Cervantes’ 7 homers, junior Makenzie Sullivan also has 7 bombs and boasts a .381/.343/.686 line.
The Spartans have struggled to score runs as of late and have dropped to the middle of the conference in offense. SJSU has regressed down to fifth in batting average and runs.
Despite the dip in production, some of the Spartans haven’t slowed down.
Freshmen Cassidy Clark (.396) and Georgia Blair (.395) are first and second on the team in batting average and on base percentage. Clark went 5 for 7 this past weekend against the Rams and Blair leads the team with 5 home runs.
In the last 13 innings, the Spartan pitching staff has given up just two runs. While Katelyn Linford (15-6) is no longer shutting down entire lineups, she remains one of the top pitchers in the conference and maintains a 2.48 ERA and still leads the league strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Collette Riggs (6-3) quietly possesses the fifth best ERA (2.41) and opposing batting average (.226) in the MW — both lower than Linford.
The three-game series between the conference rivals begins Thursday at noon.