By Alex Stoev (@alexstoevsjsu) – Spear Reporter | Senior right fielder Alex Fernandes swinging at a pitch vs New Mexico (Photo by Alex Stoev – Spear Photographer)
In a game dominated by pitching, San Jose State baseball (6-11, 1-0 MW) found the cracks late and busted through in its 1-0 victory over the University of New Mexico (12-6, 0-1 MW) on Friday.
In the bottom of the 10th inning with the score tied 0-0, freshman second baseman Peyton Rowles played the role of the walk-off wonder.
His RBI double to left-center was enough to bring home senior right fielder Alex Fernandes for the only score of the night.
This was Rowles’ second straight game with a walk-off hit, going back to SJSU’s 3-2 win over U.C. Berkeley on Tuesday.
With the game on the line, Rowles was locked in at the plate.
“I was trying not to think too much,” Rowles said. “I overheard the coach say get the head out, so I had to do that and here we are.”
Rowles wouldn’t have been put in position to win the game for the second time in a row if it weren’t for the pitching of seniors David Thomas and EJ McGrew.
Thomas was coming off a rough game against Pittsburgh on March 7, when he finished with a 16.20 ERA, 10 hits, and seven runs allowed.
Today, Thomas only allowed six hits, struck out five batters and allowed zero runs before being subbed out at the top of the seventh inning, keeping a positive attitude after having a comeback game.
“Staying consistent with my process was key,” Thomas said. “The team we played last week was a good team and today, just did the same thing I did last week but executed it a little bit better.”
Thomas said his mindset entering the game was to stay confident and not get too ahead of himself.
“First pitch is always the most important and just focus on one thing at a time from there, and it worked out,” Thomas said.
Despite the pitching continuing to improve game by game, batting has still been a struggle for the Spartans, who finished with only six hits for the second game in a row.
SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo talked about what the team has to do better at the plate.
“We gotta get better, we gotta figure that out,” Sanfilippo said. “Like Friday night games against their best pitcher, the score is low and you gotta take advantage of opportunities. So we had some moments to execute and we didn’t and we have to learn from that.”
In the first conference game of the season, nerves were nowhere to be found in the Spartans dugout.
“We were actually really excited,” Sanfilippo said. “We’ve played some good people in the beginning part of the year and there’s been some tough games, then you come in at 5-11 but you’re 0-0 in conference so we were fired up.
The Spartans will have a short rest before getting back onto the field against the Lobos at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday at Excite Ballpark.
