By Hector Roldan (@HectorRSJSU) – Spear Reporter
Left fielder Robert Hamchuk for his next at-bat as he steps into the box. | Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
San Jose State baseball (2-4) won its first series of the season as it defeated Seattle University (3-4) 8-6, Sunday afternoon.
The Spartan bats came to life in the bottom of the fifth breaking a 3-1 deficit and scored seven runs including a two-run home run from Hunter Dorraugh to make the score 8-3. Dorraugh became the all-time home run leader in program history Saturday hitting his 27th home run of his career at SJSU, while hitting one out the park Sunday afternoon with his two-run homer.
San Jose State faced adversity early as starting pitcher Michael Rice left the game due to an undisclosed injury after just 1 1/3 innings of work.
“The goal of the weekend was to win a weekend series…down today like we were yesterday and found a way to grind one out,” SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo said. “We have dangerous hitters that can do damage with one swing and Hunter [Dorraugh] really carried us this weekend with those big swings.”
The Spartans’ bullpen limited the runs for the Redhawks, as the four relief pitchers only gave up five runs in 7 2/3 innings after Rice’s departure in the first inning.
No Spartans pitchers gave up more than two earned runs on the afternoon. Nolan George got his first win of the season after throwing 1 1/3 innings while giving up two runs on two hits.
Joey Cammarata pitched 1 1/3 innings of shutout baseball to get his first save on the season.
“It’s good to play good people and if you have a good team and it’s the best way we can get ourselves to play good baseball,” Sanfilippo said.
The Spartans look to keep this two-game winning streak going as the will head down the road to Sunken Diamond to take on Stanford on Monday at 2 p.m.