By Brianna Huffmaster (@bhuffmaster2024) – Spear Reporter
Redshirt Senior Joey Cammarata delivering a pitch to Dons senior Mattie Thomas on March 26. | Photo by Nick Orozco – The Spear
San Jose State baseball (8-17, 4-8 MW) lost 5-2 Tuesday against Bay Area rival University of San Francisco (15-10, 0-0 WCC).
Offensively, SJSU had nothing going the majority of the game. Third baseman Dalton Bowling exited the game in the first inning after getting hit by a pitch. Bowling has been a big contributor to the offense and it was a big blow for the team. The score was 3-0 USF through five innings.
“(The game) got away from us late,” SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo said. “If we want to do what we want to do, we gotta figure out a way to win that game.”
SJSU has a record of 8-17 and far away from where their goals were at the beginning of the season. The team won the Mountain West Championship last season and was projected to be on top of the conference this season.
The sixth inning was when the Spartans were finally able to put runs on the board. Center fielder Robert Hamchuk hit an RBI double to score left fielder Neil Jansen. After this, shortstop Theo Hardy’s RBI groundout scored Hamchuk.
It remained a 3-2 game going into the ninth inning and the Spartans had the perfect opportunity to shut out the Dons and score runs for the home crowd.
Unfortunately, the Dons were able to score two insurance runs in their half of the ninth. Like many times this season, a ninth-inning offensive rally occurred but the Spartans were not able to produce any runs.
“The midweek games are tough but putting the pieces together for games like this starts in the first inning,” SJSU catcher Matt Spear said. “You gotta take it one at-bat at a time.”
Six SJSU pitchers took the mound and their performance gave the offense opportunities down the stretch to take a lead.
“I thought we did a good job in the bullpen to keep the game close,” Sanfilippo said.
Up next, SJSU baseball takes a trip down the California Coast to play a weekend series against UC Santa Barbara. UCSB was No. 25 but fell out of the D1 baseball rankings on Sunday. Both teams look forward to building new momentum with the season flying by. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Thursday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.