By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
With nine games under its belt, San Jose State baseball (5-4) is swinging over .500 after its 7-4 win against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (3-5), something that hasn’t occurred this far into a season in seven years.
In the weeknight match up, the Mustangs outhit the Spartans 11-9 but stranded a dozen runners on base, grounded into three double plays and committed three errors which ultimately lost them the game.
“Anytime you get baserunners and an opportunity to score some runs and you take advantage of that, it’s huge,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “We needed every bit of those seven runs to beat a team like Cal Poly tonight.”
The freshmen starters on both teams had short outings. Spartan Walker Brinkman gave up two runs in 2.1 innings and Mustang Austin Dondanville allowed one earned run in just one frame.
Junior Andrew Mitchel relieved Brinkman in the third and allowed two runs to cross home. He struck out five batters in 4.2 innings and snatched his first win of the season.
In the bottom of the third, the Spartans scored four runs led by a bases-loaded single from senior Shane Timmons to increase the SJSU lead to 6-2.
Eight of the starting nine Spartans reached base safe on the night.
“When the team scores runs, it makes it a lot easier to pitch. It takes a lot of weight off your shoulders,” Mitchel said. “When you go out there in a tie game you’re a lot more tense, you really have no room to mess up.”
Senior Cameron Keup and freshman Wesley Clawson combined for two shutout innings in the eighth and ninth inning to secure the win for the SJSU. The freshman grabbed his second save of the season.
The Spartans begin conference play this weekend when they welcome San Diego State University, who finished first in the Mountain West conference last season.
The first game of the four-game series at Muni starts at 6 p.m.
