San Jose, Calif. – San Jose State baseball managed only three hits in a 6-1 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) loss to Dallas Baptist on Sunday at Municipal Stadium.
Leadoff man Andre Mercurio got a base hit to start the game in the bottom of the first, and then the Spartans didn’t register another hit until the sixth inning. While stingy with the hits, Dallas Baptist pitching issued nine walks to the Spartans and hit two batters. San Jose State left 13 runners on base in the game.
Duncan McAlpine put the Patriots up 1-0 in the second inning with his sixth homer of the year over the center field wall.
Two Spartan throwing errors in the third inning helped Dallas Baptist take a 3-0 lead. San Jose State’s starter Jason Kafka was lifted in favor of David Wayne Russo after facing four batters in the inning. Russo went on to throw 4 complete frames of one-hit ball.
Down 3-0, SJSU had the bases loaded with none out in the sixth inning. Matt Lopez walked, Matt Carroll doubled off the wall in center field and Michael Gerlach reached on an error to set the table. The next three batters in a row were retired, and the Spartans only pushed one run across on a ground ball to the first baseman off the bat of Ricky Acosta.
“Your chances and opportunities are limited against good teams,” said Spartans’ head coach Dave Nakama. “When you get chances like that you have to make the most of them. We didn’t do that all day.”
The Spartans also left the bases full in the first inning without pushing a run across.
A four-pitch walk to Mike Wesolowski started off the top of the ninth inning. Michael Miller stepped up next and hit the first pitch he saw out of the yard over the left field wall. Miller’s fourth home run of the season put Dallas Baptist up 5-1. They would add a sixth run later in the inning on a McAlpine RBI-single.
Kafka took the loss for San Jose State which drops to 7-17 overall and 1-2 in WAC play. Cody Beam was the winner for Dallas Baptist which improved to 13-11 overall and 2-1 in the WAC.
The Spartans are right back in action Monday night with a home game versus UC Davis. The Spartans will try and avenge a 22-4 loss suffered in Davis, Calif., against the Aggies back in February. First pitch Monday night is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
Dallas Baptist 6, San Jose State 1 (Mar 24, 2013 at San Jose, Calif.)
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Dallas Baptist...... 012 000 003 - 6 7 1 (13-11, 2-1 WAC)
San Jose State...... 000 001 000 - 1 3 2 (7-17, 1-2 WAC)
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Pitchers: Dallas Baptist - Cody Beam; Aaron Gilbreath(5); Blake Webster(6); Michael Smith(7);
Paul Voelker(9) and Duncan McAlpine; Michael Miller. San Jose State - Kafka, Jason;
Russo, David Wayne(3); Contrades, Kalei(7); Bradshaw, Drew(9) and Nelson, Jon; Lund, Dane.
Win-Cody Beam(2-0) Loss-Kafka, Jason(1-2) T-2:50 A-483
HR DBU - Duncan McAlpine (6); Michael Miller (4).
Weather: Sunny, 60 degrees
Kafka faced 4 batters in the 3rd.
Beam faced 1 batter in the 5th.
Gilbreath faced 2 batters in the 6th.
Contrades faced 2 batters in the 9th.