San Jose, Calif. - San Jose State went into the ninth inning tied with #25-Stanford but surrendered three runs in the top half to fall 10-8 at Municipal Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Spartans (11-22) made it 10-8 on Ricky Acosta's RBI-single in the bottom of the ninth, but Sheldon Daquioag, representing the winning run, struck out looking on a 2-2 breaking ball to end the game.
Doubles from Austin Wilson and Justin Ringo along with a sacrifice fly and a passed ball gave Stanford (17-10) the three-run advantage in the ninth.
"If we could have just limited the damage in their scoring innings then this would be a different game," said San Jose State head coach Dave Nakama. "They scored multiple runs in their innings and you can't let them do that."
The ninth-inning excitement happened after San Jose State had come back from a six-run deficit earlier in the contest. Stanford scored five runs in the second and two more in the fifth to take a 7-1 lead. Then the Spartans had a five-run inning of their own.
Matt Carroll's double down the left field line was the first of three consecutive hits to start the sixth inning. Jacob Valdez knocked Carroll in on a single two batters later to make it 7-2. After a walk to Matt Lopez loaded the bases, Tim Quiery and Acosta had consecutive RBI-singles that made it a 7-4 game. Acosta's hit extended his career-long hitting streak to nine games. SJSU made it 7-6 after Lopez scored on a double-play ball, and Michael Gerlach drove in another run with a single to center.
The Spartans pulled even at 7-7 with Stanford in the seventh when Carroll roped his second double, scoring Andre Mercurio who tripled to lead off the inning.
"We don't want to have to play from behind like that," Nakama said. "It was encouraging though to see the guys come back like that. I'm glad we made a game out of it."
San Jose State had the bases full with one out in the bottom of the eighth but failed to push a run across as Stanford's AJ Vanegas induced a fielder's choice putout at home and then struck out Carroll to end the frame. Vanegas ended up with the win and improved to 1-1.
Stanford had three players score multiple runs in the game, including Alex Blandino who hit a solo shot, his second of the season, straight over the 390 mark on the center field wall in the fifth inning.
Carroll, Acosta and Valdez all finished with multiple hits for San Jose State. Valdez tied a career high with three runs scored.
The Spartans now head to UT Arlington for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series starting Friday April 12.