By Haddy Barghouti – Spear Reporter | Junior Jesse Gutierrez throws a pitch during SJSU’s 7-2 win over USF. (Photo by Abby Westrope – Spear Photographer)
San Jose State baseball (7-2) got a commanding victory versus University of San Francisco (5-5) 7-2.
It was all even at the end of the first inning, but not until the Spartans caught fire at the bottom of the second, scoring three runs and building the early advantage.
The Dons opened the top of the fourth with an offensive spark, as they scored the first home run of the game after a two-run homer to cut the lead to 3-2.
The momentum quickly shifted back in the Spartans favor after a home run by outfielder Jake McCoy in the bottom of the fourth.
“My head coach told me what they thought they were going to do,” McCoy said. “ He said look for something up. The first one was down for a ball, the second one was up, and I got what I was looking for.”
The Spartans built on that home run, scoring two more runs, making it a 6-2 game at the end of four.
“The big thing for us is score first, and then they’ll always have a big inning throughout the game, and today we were able to have two of them,” McCoy said.
The Spartans were scoreless in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, but they added one more run in the 8th.
“For us, it’s just stringing hits together, stringing good AB’s,” McCoy said. “If we get into there bullpen and get their pitch count up, I’d take us against anybody, and that’s what happened today,”
The Spartans had eight total hits and seven total RBIs.
The game had opposite bullpens. The Spartans capitalized on the Dons’ bullpen inconsistency, but the Dons could not score many runs. This was mainly due to left-handed pitcher Jesse Gutierrez, who recorded nine strikeouts in eight innings.
“Just getting the first pitch strikes, getting ahead of the hitters really helped me go eight innings, just letting them put the ball in play, letting them work, letting the defense work,” Gutierrez said.
Guiterrez’s nine strikeouts mark the most he’s ever had, and he also recorded a 1.13 ERA in today’s match.
“We’re a scrappy team, and they’re gonna keep doing that,” Gutierrez said. “Our offense is really good, and it really helps pitching with a lead it opens me up a little bit.”
Gutierrez also allowed zero walks.
“Gutierrez set the tone for us, being able to pitch eight innings, we scored enough behind him to make him relax and be able to pitch,” SJSU baseball head coach Brad Sanfilippo said.
The Spartans also had a big game from outfielder Alex Fernandes, who was aggressive on the field, stealing two bases and adding two runs.
“We strung some hits together, we did what our offense does, put some numbers up on the board,” Fernandes said.
Although the Spartans dominated on both sides of the ball, they had two total errors compared to the Dons, who had one error.
“Hopefully, we take care of the baseball a little bit better. I think we had some opportunities to shut them down better than we did; that said, it was just a great all-around effort by the whole team,” Fernandes said.
The Spartans will meet USF back in San Jose tomorrow, hoping to clinch the series win, and the Dons will look to snap their two-game losing streak.
