By Max Miller — Reporter
San Jose State baseball (3-5) turned a corner as it won its third-straight game 13-10 over the University of San Francisco (2-6) on Tuesday night.
Sophomore infielder Ruben Ibarra continued his hot start to the season with a two-hit night. Included was a 3-run moonshot in the second inning. Ibarra has solidified himself as a force in the Spartans’ lineup with a .414 batting average.
“He’s really been a monster in the middle part of our order,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “It’s not that we didn’t know he was capable of doing that but his production and consistency of production in this first couple of weeks has been a welcome edition.”
Senior third baseman Troy Viola had a clutch two-out 2-run single in the sixth to extend the lead to 12-4.
SJSU broke out a 13-4 lead going into the seventh inning, but in this four-hour game, no lead was safe. With a 5-run eighth inning and another run in the ninth, the Spartans were able to hold off USF.
Although happy with his improvement at the plate, Viola feels that the team missed an opportunity to get a runaway win.
“You can’t get complacent, especially when you get up big,” Viola said. “You kind of feel comfortable and a team can just chip away at a lead then in the ninth inning they are making it a game.”
The Spartans may not have had the cleanest win, but lost in moments of the game was sophomore Ben Polack’s (1-0) start. Polack pitched three innings and struck out five while allowing one run.
“I had a lot of help,” Polack said. “The offense gave me a lot of confidence early on. I just tried to go in there and throw strikes plus I didn’t want my defense to get complacent.”
The Spartans will look to stay hot against Utah Valley on Friday. The first pitch will be at 6 p.m. at Excite Ballpark.
Follow Max on Twitter @SJSUMaxMiller
