By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
San Jose State struggled for six hours of baseball against San Diego State in its doubleheader loss Sunday at Municipal Stadium.
The Spartans (5-6, MW 0-2) lost the first game 7-2 against the Aztecs (8-3, MW 2-0) and the second game 11-1. SJSU has now lost 10 straight to SDSU dating back to the 2016 season.
“I don’t think we pitched very well today and we pitched from behind in the count,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “We didn’t pitch well enough to beat a quality opponent.”
SJSU’s bullpen gave up 11 of 18 runs in 11 innings pitched against the Aztecs.
Senior reliever Cameron Keup came out of the bullpen in the second game and gave up four runs on five hits in one inning. Before the game, the senior pitched 6.1 scoreless innings and only gave up five hits all season.
Aztec senior David Hensley had a day of his own with five hits and six RBIs including a three-run homerun in the fifth inning of game one. Hensley led the team in batting average last season and was 12th in the conference in that category.
“He was in a leverage count and he was on time,” Sanfilippo said about Hensley. “He did his job in terms of being on time to the pitches that we had to throw him.”
In the first game, SDSU hit three homeruns accounting for all of its runs in the game. One homerun each for Hensley and juniors Chad Bible and Jordan Verdon.
SJSU Sophomore Kellen Strahm got the only RBI in the second game for the Spartans with a single in the seventh inning.
“They’re a good team. They hit hard, put the pitches in play and they have good pitchers,” Strahm said. “We just came out flat.”
The Spartans hope to put an end to their two-game losing streak when they welcome the University of Utah to Muni for a 1 p.m. start on Monday.