By Georgia Blair — Staff Writer
San Jose State baseball (4-1) plated nine runs on eight hits to bury UC Riverside Friday at Municipal Stadium, 9-1.
The Spartans relied on juniors infielder Troy Viola and catcher Johnny Mendoza to spark the momentum, who each tallied 2 RBIs on the night.
SJSU scored its first run in the second inning courtesy of an Aaron Pleschner sacrifice fly to right field that pushed Viola across the plate.
The senior infielder later stole home from second base on a wild pitch that opened the floodgates for the Spartans.
“You feed off that (hits) and it gets the momentum going on your side,” Mendoza said. “In our conference where no lead is safe, it is really important to get those hits.”
Juniors infielder Blake Berry and outfielder Kellen Strahm each had an RBI and two hits.
“When you have got guys like Kellen and Johnny hitting in front of you, it feels like they are going to get a hit every time they get up,” Viola said. “It makes it a lot easier and gives you some confidence.”
Freshman pitcher Ben Polack tossed five innings of shut-out baseball and only gave up two hits to walk away with his first collegiate win.
“For (Polack) to give us the performance he did tonight, it was awesome,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “He was exactly what we needed.”
Sanfilippo had to make adjustments to his rotation and bullpen after a rain delayed weekend against Santa Clara last week.
The Spartans capitalized on a weak performance from the Highlanders pitching staff, who issued 11 walks in the game.
UCR’s only run came late in the ninth inning on a Cole Pofek single, which broke up the shutout.
Junior Josh Zanger came in for relief of Polack and recorded his second save of the season. He only allowed the lone run across four innings of work.
SJSU will continue its home series with UC Riverside Saturday at 2 p.m.
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