By Luke Johnson
Air Force scored three runs before a single out was recorded Friday, and the team never looked back.
Starting pitcher for host San Jose State Matt Brown beamed the game’s first two batters setting up a three-run homer by right fielder Tyler Jones and The Falcons (17-20, 6-13 MW) went on to win 12-6 in a four-hour contest.
“I don’t think I gave us a chance to win, so it’s a little disappointing for me,” Brown said.
Despite only pitching four innings, Brown produced a career-high nine strikeouts with six earned runs.
“Matt’s pitched worse than that and we’ve won games, and that’s the God’s honest truth,” said SJSU head coach Jason Hawkins. “He’s thrown more strikes than he has in the past. But it wasn’t great. It wasn’t the way we wanted to get started.”
The loss for the Spartans (13-22-1, 7-10-1 MW) snapped a six-game, seven-week unbeaten streak against Mountain West opponents at home. The team is now on a four-game losing streak — three of which were conference games.
“I think we came in here and thought it was going to be easy today, and that’s my fault for not doing a better job of preparing the guys for the fact anybody can beat you on any given day,” Hawkins said. “They swing the bats pretty good, but we can do more to their pitching than we did tonight.”
Air Force is the best offensive team in the Mountain West with the highest batting average (.336) and most runs (303). However, the Falcons are in last place in the conference while the Spartans sit in fifth.
It was the top of the order for Air Force provided most of the damage. Leadoff man Adam Groesbeck and number two hitter Bradley Haslam crossed the plate seven times.
SJSU leadoff hitter Kellen Strahm reached base four times in five plate appearances, but only scored once. Overall, the Spartans left 11 runners on base Friday.
Game two of the series is today at Municipal Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.