By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
San Jose State baseball welcomes University of the Pacific for a non-conference matchup Tuesday night at Municipal Stadium.
The Spartans (6-9, 0-5 MW) split two games last season against the Tigers (7-10), a 9-2 win at home and a 12-10 loss in Stockton.
The Spartans have performed well at home with four of its six wins at Muni. The Tigers struggled last season away from home with a 2-26 record, but have already doubled their road wins 17 games through this season.
SJSU is coming off of a three-game series against the University of Nevada where they allowed the batters to hit 16-for-36 with runners in scoring position. The team allowed 35 runs in just the three games.
Spartan senior left-fielder Brett Bautista is starting off the season with a bang. He is leading the team with a .550 batting average and a .775 slugging percentage.
A Tiger to keep an eye on is sophomore James Free who is leading UOP with eight RBIs, a .391 batting average and 10 walks on the season.
Pitching on the other hand has been the Spartans’ weakness this season. They have a team ERA of 7.37 and have allowed 107 earned runs, walked 86 batters and hit 22 with a pitch.
The Tigers have a team ERA of 4.56 and have allowed 44 of their 72 runs on the road. Senior pitcher Cooper Casad is bound to take the mound against the Spartans and posts a 1.02 ERA through 17.2 innings pitched and has only allowed four runs.
The starting pitch is slated for 5 p.m.