By Levern Johnson (@inkedjournalist) – Spear Reporter
SJSU baseball (24-23, 15-11 MW) takes one of two games at Texas (34-18, 12-9 Big 12), led by redshirt senior pitcher Jonathan Clark‘s seven strikeouts.
The Spartans won the first matchup, narrowly beating the Longhorns 6-4.
At the bottom of the first inning, Texas baseball got things shaking, scoring the first runs after junior catcher Garret Guillemette decked a two-run homer to put the Longhorns up 2-0.
Additionally, freshman catcher Jared Thomas added another run with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Now trailing 3-0, the sense of urgency arose, with the Spartan bats coming alive.
At the top of the fifth, redshirt junior third baseman Dalton Bowling got things rolling with a solo home run, followed by a sac-fly from Robert Hamchuk to bring home junior catcher Matt Spear.
The Longhorns scored an additional run in the sixth to extend their lead to 4-2, but the last two innings belonged to the Spartans.
In the eighth, redshirt senior outfielder Jack Colette knocked an RBI double to bring the Spartans within one run of Texas.
That’s when the Longhorns seemed to let off the gas.
A wild pitch and unforced error allowed junior shortstop Theo Hardy and Colette to score the fourth and fifth Spartan runs, giving the Spartans a 5-4 lead.
From then on, the Spartans had control with Hamchuk collecting another RBI double in the ninth, with Spear scoring the sixth game run.
GAME 2
In the follow-up game of their doubleheader, the Texas Longhorns were out for blood as they demolished the SJSU Spartans 24-6.
The 24 runs by the Longhorns is its season-high, with this also being a season-high in runs allowed by the Spartans.
Texas ended the night with 22 hits, four doubles and five home runs.
The first two innings belonged to the Longhorns, who scored eight runs.
Redshirt senior outfielder Eric Kennedy started the game with an RBI single in the first, followed by a grand slam to clear the bases.
Facing an 8-0 deficit, the Spartans made a small surge in the fifth inning, scoring three runs, but that wouldn’t be enough, especially for what was soon to come.
In the sixth inning, the Longhorns packed on ten more runs, with Kennedy cracking a three-run homer, giving him his second homer.
Indeed, the game was out of reach at this point, but senior infielder Tanner Carlson and redshirt sophomore utility player Cam Constantine added home runs of their own.
Carlson hit an eighth-inning grand slam, while Constantine claimed a solo homer.
SJSU baseball gets one more chance to claim the series at Texas on Saturday, May 13 at 12:30 p.m. PT.