By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
San Jose State baseball allowed three runs in late innings to drop the second game of the series 4-3 against UC Santa Barbara.
The Gauchos (8-11-1) tied the game up in the eighth inning and walked it off in the ninth against the Spartans (9-12, 2-6 MW) to secure the win.
Spartan junior Andrew Mitchel pitched 5.1 innings and allowed only one run while striking out three batters, and now leads the team with 28 strikeouts.
Although UCSB got on the board first with a solo shot by junior left-fielder Sam Cohen in the second inning, SJSU bounced back and tied the game at one in the top of the third with an RBI single by freshman first baseman Ruben Ibarra.
The game remained tied until the seventh inning when senior third baseman David Campbell and Ibarra hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Spartans a 3-1 lead.
In the eighth inning, Gauchos redshirt sophomore center fielder Tommy Jew and redshirt junior DH Clay Fisher hit back-to-back singles with one out and Jew scored on a delayed steal by Fisher.
After a pass ball and a wild pitch, the game was all tied up at three runs apiece.
Despite a two-out double in the top of the ninth by Campbell, the Spartans failed to break the tie.
UCSB got a one-out double in their ninth inning and redshirt freshman shortstop Andrew Martinez singled in the winning run.
Junior pitcher Fineas Del-Bonta Smith (0-2) got the loss for the Spartans as he gave up all three runs in the late innings to the Gauchos.
The Spartans look to avoid the sweep in the final game of the series tomorrow at 1 p.m.