San Jose, Calif. -- San Jose State was shutout 5-0 in the series opener against Santa Clara on Friday night at Municipal Stadium behind the complete game by Broncos starter Mike Couch.
The Spartans got 10 hits off of Couch but were unable to get a runner across. They had their best chance in the eighth inning when base hits by Andre Mercurio and Tim Quiery followed by a Nick Schulz walk loaded the bases. With two outs, Couch induced a ground ball out by Jacob Valdez to end the threat.
"We weren't able to get timely hits tonight," said San Jose State head coach Dave Nakama. "We had an opportunity to gain some momentum after that win against Fresno State and we came out flat."
Five of the nine runners left on base for San Jose State were in scoring position.
Santa Clara got their first run in the second inning without a hit against Spartan starter Johnny Melero. A walk and a balk put Casey Munoz in scoring position with no outs. Munoz scored two batters later on a fielder's choice to make it 1-0.
The Broncos added another run in the fifth inning and then extended the lead to 5-0 with three more runs in the sixth. Santa Clara had four hits in the third, including RBI-singles from Stephen Takahashi and Justin Viele to make it 4-0. Drew Ozanne's RBI-double with two outs brought the score to 5-0.
Melero exited the game after the sixth inning and took the loss after giving up eight hits and five earned runs. Jason Kafka, James Glawe and John Oberholtzer all came out of the Spartan bullpen and allowed two hits and no runs combined in the remaining three innings.
Quiery, the designated hitter, went 3-for-4 in tonight's game making it eight of the last nine games with a hit. Five of those were multi-hit games. Mercurio, first baseman Matt Lopez, and shortstop Ricky Acosta also hit multi-hit games.
Game two of the three-game series will be played at Schott Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Lefty David Wayne Russo (1-2, 6.28) takes the hill for the Spartans facing Santa Clara's Chris Mendoza (2-0. 5.29).