By Hannah Hall — Staff Writer
San Jose State baseball (4-2) dropped the second game of the three-game series to UC Riverside 12-3 at Municipal Stadium on Saturday.
Senior pitcher Andrew Mitchel started on the mound for the Spartans and dealt 8 strikeouts in 5.1 innings. However, that didn’t stop the Highlanders from getting on the scoreboard.
They scored 11 runs, four (three earned, one unearned) of which were credited to Mitchel, in eight innings.
UCR’s starting pitcher Shamus Lyons tossed 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, making it hard for SJSU offense to get gain momentum offensively.
The Spartans had a difficult time on the field as they gave up three errors and 12 free bases that made it hard to keep up with UCR.
“Coach lives and dies by pitching and defense wins ball games, and we’re completely bought in on that,” said senior infielder Aaron Pleschner. “We had a tough day defensively and it showed.”
In the eighth inning, Pleschner was able to drive in the first run of the game for the Spartans to put an end to Lyon’s shut out.
Junior infielder Blake Berry was able to provide a spark for the Spartan offense as he hit a two-run single to put more runs on the scoreboard for SJSU. Berry led the offense with 2 RBIs.
“I want to start something. I want to make things happen offensively,” Berry said. “If there’s runners in scoring positions, I’m trying to knock them in with a single because a single does the job.”
The three runs in the eighth inning were not enough to close the scoring gap between the two teams. However, the team is hopeful that they will carry over that momentum in tomorrow’s game.
“I think scoring late gives you a little bit of momentum. We still have a little fight,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “It’s early and this isn’t any huge indicator of who we are. We’ve been able to see some good performances and do good things.”
Senior pitcher Tevin Cadola will start for the Spartans in Sunday’s rubber-match against the Highlanders at 12 p.m.
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