By Brianna Huffmaster – Spear Editor
SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo talking to the home plate umpire | Photo by Andrew Hartley – The Spear
Cruising during the first two days of the Mountain West baseball tournament, San Jose State baseball had to win one more game to seal back-to-back championships. The team had two opportunities but came up just short.
SJSU faced off against Fresno State Saturday and Sunday for the Mountain West Championship. The Spartans were coming off two big wins while the Bulldogs were fighting off elimination.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, the same magic didn’t come through for the final two games.
Saturday night went SJSU’s way most of the game and it seemed like a championship was going to be celebrated, but that would not be the case.
Fresno State came back in the late innings to hand SJSU its first loss of the tournament with a 8-5 final score.
The only big swing for SJSU was a two-run shot from redshirt senior left fielder Robert Hamchuk that put the team ahead 2-1 in the second. This was Hamchuk’s third home run of the tournament.
A Fresno State error led to the other three SJSU runs to score in the fourth. After that, the offense couldn’t find ways to produce down the stretch.
The Spartan offense only had six hits which was a big contrast from the 15 and 20-hit games during the first two days of play.
SJSU’s pitching was in control until the final stretch. Redshirt senior starting pitcher Ethan Ross only gave up one run until the seventh when the bullpen came in to try to seal the game. But the bullpen couldn’t find its control and ultimately cost the game.
Pitching has been a weak spot all season and it continued to show in the biggest game of the year.
A loss for SJSU meant a winner-take-all game would take place Sunday afternoon.
The final game of the season lived up to the hype with a rollercoaster of emotions, but SJSU failed to go back-to-back and lost 16-11.
The game started with a solo homer from redshirt senior first baseman Hunter Dorraugh and he didn’t stop there. He hit four homers, including a grand slam that broke the SJSU single-season home run record.
Dorraugh carried the offense most of the game but redshirt senior second baseman Dalton Bowling also had a multi-homer game.
Bowling and Dorraugh’s offensive performances were overshadowed by the end result.
As Bowling and Dorraugh’s SJSU careers come to an end, both leave big marks on the program. Bowling holds the school RBI record at 162 while Dorraugh holds the home run record at 43.
The pitching struggled to hold down the Bulldogs. The Spartans were nearly mercy-ruled as the score was 16-3 in the sixth. But Bowling and Dorraugh’s late-game offensive performances scored eight runs.
What was a pitching masterpiece and explosive offensive performance in the first two days of play turned into the opposite for the two games that determined the season.
The Spartans left San Diego empty-handed. The team ends the season with a school single-season record of 73 home runs. Dorraugh, Hamchuk and sophomore pitcher Jesse Gutierrez were named to the 2024 Mountain West all-tournament team for their performances.
SJSU baseball had an up-and-down season but was one game away from back-to-back championships.