San Francisco - San Jose State baseball let San Francisco escape the clutches of defeat in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Dons smacked three home runs including Zachary Turner's walk-off two-run blast to win it 4-2 on Tuesday at Benedetti Diamond.
The Spartans (14-30) took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but back-to-back solo shots by pinch hitter Harrison Bruce (1) and Justin Maffei (4) quickly erased the lead. After Jason Mahood reach on a bunt single, Turner (7) stepped up and hit Kyle Hassna's 1-1 offering over the right-center field wall for a walk-off two-run homer.
The hit not only handed San Jose State its eighth loss in 10 midweek contests, but it erased an excellent pitching and defensive effort.
Willy Reel made his first start of the year on the hill for SJSU and pitched 5.0 innings of shutout ball, allowing only three hits. John Oberholtzer and Jason Kafka came out of the pen and preserved the shutout over the next three innings allowing only one hit combined.
Andre Mercurio had a number of challenging plays out in center field throughout the game, all of which he made. In the third inning he robbed two USF (26-19) hitters in a row with fully extended diving catches. Matt Cole in his first start also chipped in with a running grab near the USF dugout in the fourth.
Tim Quiery knocked in the game's first run in the second inning with an RBI-single. First baseman Matt Carroll chased home Sheldon Daquioag with his team-leading 13th double in the third inning. Daquioag had reached with a double of his own which extended his season-long hitting streak to 14 games. A first-inning single for Mercurio extended his streak to a career-long nine games.
The three home runs allowed by Hassna marked a career-high for a single game, and he fell to 2-5 with the loss. USF’s Adam Cimber threw five pitches over 0.2 innings and earned the win improving to 4-2.
San Jose State will put this one in the rear view mirror and pack the bags for an important Western Athletic Conference series on the road at New Mexico State starting this Friday, May 3.