San Jose, Calif. - San Jose State pitching allowed it's second highest hit total of the season in an 11-5 Western Athletic Conference loss to Texas State on Sunday at Municipal Stadium.
The Bobcats (17-22, 9-6 WAC) pounded out 19 hits and showed their speed on the base paths by swiping seven bags. Despite the loss, the Spartans (13-26, 7-8 WAC) still took two of three from Texas State for their third WAC series win of the season.
Spartan starter Johnny Melero allowed six runs on seven hits in the first two innings of the game before being lifted. The Bobcats went for four runs in the first.
San Jose State scored in the first inning for the third time this series when Andre Mercurio came in on a Jacob Valdez sacrifice fly. The Spartans scored nine first-inning runs in the set with Texas State.
Michael Gerlach's two-run double was part of a three-run second inning for the Spartans that made it a 6-4 game, but the Bobcats struck for three runs in the fourth and two more in the seventh to put the game away.
"We gave them too much of a cushion in the beginning," said San Jose state head coach Dave Nakama. "I think if we can shut them down in the first couple of innings, then it's a different game."
After scoring four times in the first two frames the Spartans put up zeros on the scoreboard until the ninth inning. Mitchell Pitts came out of the Texas State bullpen and threw four shutout innings allowing only one hit on the way to his second win of the season.
In the ninth, Matt Cole knocked in his first RBI as a Spartan with a double down the left field line. Cole came in as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning and belted a single into left field for the first hit of his college career.
Mercurio, Matt Caroll and Jacob Valdez also had multi-hit games for San Jose State Sunday. Mercurio went 6-for-14 with five runs and two RBI in the series and had Saturday's walk-off single in the 10th inning.
"Anytime you take two out of three and win the series, it's a positive, said Nakama. "We still have to get better, and I really think our guys are doing that. I give them credit."
San Jose State heads to Stanford on Tuesday evening for a 5:30 p.m. game at Sunken Diamond before returning back home for a weekend WAC series with Seattle U.