By Ernie Gonzalez
San Jose State snapped its longest losing streak of the year Tuesday after a thrilling, come-from-behind victory against Saint Mary’s, defeating the Gaels 6-5.
Nevertheless, it will take more come-from-behind willpower for the Spartans for a chance at the Mountain West tournament that gets underway less than a month from now.
SJSU currently sits in second-to-last in the conference, only ahead of UNLV, but will get a three-game crack at its Central California rival, the Fresno State Bulldogs.
It’s the first time since merging into the Mountain West that Fresno State will not visit Municipal Stadium. Instead, the Spartans will only face the Bulldogs three times this season, the first beginning Friday night.
The Spartans aren’t done yet. SJSU baseball (13-24-1, 7-12-1 MW) will aim to mimic what its softball team did in central California just last weekend: Win the series.
Stealing two of the three games in Bulldog territory can potentially move the Spartans up to fourth place in the seven-team conference, and a sweep could even slip them into third, depending on the results from their conference counterparts.
The Bulldogs (19-20, 9-9 MW) offense is lighting up the stat sheets both with their bats and with their arms. Last Sunday, FSU scored 27 runs in a landslide against the Nevada Wolf Pack.
On the other side of the diamond, the Bulldogs have arguably two of the top three pitchers in the Mountain West in Jimmy Lambert and Ricky Tyler Thomas. The two land in the top five in the conference in innings pitched, wins, strikeouts and ERA.
With 40 games in the books, the next 16 will challenge the Spartans to find an identity, one that proves they can hang with not only conference foes, but with great teams outside the Mountain West.
The Spartans’ next three opponents include Fresno State, Stanford and San Diego State.
Game 1 in Fresno is Friday night at 6:05 p.m.
