By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
San Jose State baseball continued to struggle on the road in its 9-2 loss against UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon.
The Spartans (9-11, 2-6 MW) held close with the Gauchos (7-11-1) until the sixth, where six runs in two innings did them in, ultimately dropping the first game of the three-game series.
Senior Josh Goldberg took the mound for his fourth start of the season and came out rocky. He gave up two runs in the first inning to UCSB and pitched four innings allowing three runs.
Senior Cameron Keup came in for relief of Goldberg and went 1.1 innings and gave up three of the four runs in the sixth inning, which included a three-run home run by Gaucho sophomore Tommy Jew.
Spartan pitching continued to struggle. The team has now played eight games where it has given up nine or more runs to its opponents. In the game against the Gauchos, five pitchers gave up eight walks while only striking out four.
Despite the pitching struggle, the Spartans defense was stellar including three turned double plays and two diving catches by senior left fielder Chris Williams.
Both of SJSU’s runs were unearned because of the an error made by UCSB in the third inning. Junior shortstop Aaron Pleschner reached on a fielding error and was eventually singled in by senior left-fielder Brett Bautista.
Sophomore center-fielder Kellen Strahm came into the game red hot with 13 hits in his last 30 at bats but went 0-for-5 on the day. Williams went 3-for-4 on the afternoon with three singles as continues to tire out opposing pitchers.
The Spartans hope to bounce back in Game 2 on Saturday at 2 p.m.