By Brianna Huffmaster | Spear Editor
Sophomore pitcher Jesse Gutierrez on the mound | Photo by Nick Orozco – The Spear
San Jose State baseball is looking for back-to-back Mountain West championships. The team traveled traveled to San Diego for the tournament this weekend and played their first game against New Mexico Thursday afternoon.
SJSU came out on top with a huge 8-5 win, which puts them in the winner’s bracket of tournament play.
Powering the Spartans was sophomore Jesse Gutierrez who came in during a one-run SJSU lead and pitched a career-high seven innings of relief. Gutierrez only gave up one run and had a career-high eight strikeouts.
“I just did what I do all the time,” Gutierrez said. “Clear mind and loose arm for me.”
Pitching has been a weak spot all-season for the Spartans, giving up runs that cost them games. Going into the tournament, SJSU was ranked second in pitching in the conference and Gutierrez’s performance proved that.
“Our pitching staff is the best in the tournament,” Gutierrez said. “We got a lot of guys and we know what to do with the ball.”
Before Gutierrez’s relief outing, San Diego native and redshirt senior Keaton Chase started on the mound. Chase finished with a stat line of four runs and five hits through two innings.
On the offensive side of the ball, all eight runs came through RBIs. The Spartans were able to score with runners in scoring position throughout multiple innings.
“We were able to score multiple runs in multiple innings which I thought was mature,” SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo said. “Our guys weren’t looking for the big swing, they’re doing a good job of just taking hits.”
The SJSU all-time doubles record has a new leader with redshirt senior Dalton Bowling hitting his 56th career double in the eighth.
Other key performers on offense were senior Theo Hardy, redshirt freshman Jared Lewis and senior Matt Spear, all with two RBI games. Redshirt senior Robert Hamchuk extended his career-best hitting streak to 20 games.
The first game of the Mountain West tournament was an all-around team effort for the Spartans. With Gutierrez’s performance and consistency with the offense, the team is getting closer to back-to-back titles.
SJSU baseball is set to play Air Force for the second day of tournament play. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday.