By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
A five-run fifth inning wasn’t enough for San Jose State baseball as it dropped the first game of the series 11-7 against Fresno State Friday night.
The Spartans (12-20, 4-11 MW) allowed 16 hits to the Bulldogs, (21-12, 8-8 MW) marking their 12th game this season that they have allowed nine or more runs.
In the first inning, sophomore center fielder Kellen Strahm reached base on an error, and tagged home on a sacrifice fly by senior left fielder Brett Bautista to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead.
Fresno State answered with four runs in the bottom of the first, backed by an RBI single and a three-run blast to left field by freshman pinch hitter Zach Presno.
Spartan senior right hander Josh Goldberg (2-4) pitched four plus innings and allowed seven earned runs in his fourth loss of the season.
After adding two runs to their lead in the fourth, the Bulldogs exploded for a five-run fifth.
Senior first baseman Torin Goldstein hit the team’s second home run of the game with a two-run shot to right field, giving Fresno an 8-2 lead.
Freshman right hander Nicholas Morales relieved Goldberg after the two-run homerun and gave up three more runs to the Bulldogs in the same inning.
A SJSU error by freshman second baseman Santiago Cantu allowed a run to score, which resulted in two more unearned runs.
In an effort to make a comeback, the Spartan offense connected their bats to score five runs in the top of the sixth off of five hits.
Bulldog sophomore right hander Ryan Jensen threw a career high 129 pitches in his 5.2 innings of work, allowing six earned runs off of nine hits.
The Spartans continued to climb the national leaderboard adding another double play to their list.
The team has now turned 39 on the season.
Junior left hander Andrew Mitchel will take the mound for the Spartans in the second game of the series. First pitch is slated for Saturday at 6:05 p.m.