By Marissa Scott
Andrew Mitchel’s 6.1 innings of two-run baseball with nine strikeouts wasn’t enough as San Jose State fell to San Diego State 2-1 in the first game of the Mountain West Championship Tournament.
The Spartans (26-29) ended up on the losing end of a pitcher’s duel against the Aztecs (37-19).
Both team’s scraped together five hits each but the Aztecs had the edge.
Mitchel, the junior left hander, only gave up two hits through six innings and was cruising until he came out in the seventh and loaded the bases before junior right hander Fineas Del-Bonta Smith relieved him.
“He is unbelievable,” said interim head coach Brad Sanfilippo of Mitchel. “He is the heart and soul of our pitching staff … It’s unbelievable what he’s been able to do and what he means to our team.”
The Spartans put up the first run of the game in the fourth inning when senior third baseman David Campbell doubled down the right field line to score senior first baseman Shane Timmons.
That would be the first and only runner who would round second base for the Spartans.
SDSU’s bats were quiet until a leadoff double in the seventh. A sacrifice fly and an RBI single gave the Aztecs the lead and later the win.
“Once you score, you have to score again and again,” said junior shortstop Aaron Pleschner. “They took advantage of those two runs and we needed to come back and put some runs up too.”
The pitching duel was both of the pitchers who won Co-Mountain West Pitchers of the Year. Mitchel and SDSU’s junior right hander Garrett Hill, who also pitched 6.1 frames but only allowed one run.
SJSU looks to bounce back from the first loss to keep its tournament hopes alive in an elimination game on Friday against Nevada at 1:30 p.m.
“We still feel good about where we stand as a team,” Pleschner said. “We have to just throw today behind, work from here and win the rest.”
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