Sacramento, Calif. - Sacramento State starter Brennan Leitao (8-2) limited San Jose State to five hits on Friday at John Smith Field as the Spartans fell to the Hornets 4-1 in Western Athletic Conference action.
Leitao entered Friday's game with the third-best ERA in the conference at 2.57, and backed it up by allowing one run on five hits in eight innings against SJSU.
Andre Mercurio hit a run-scoring single in the eighth off Leitao to get San Jose State (14-34, 8-14 WAC) on the board. Sheldon Daquioag scored on the play after doubling down the left field line.
Sutter McLoughlin pitched a one-two-three ninth and collected his league-leading 16th save.
David Wayne Russo (4-8) scattered 10 hits and gave up three earned runs in seven innings in his 12th start of the season.
The Left-hander settled down after allowing three runs on eight hits within the first three frames. The Hornets managed only three hits during the next four innings on Russo before he was replaced by Jason Kafka in the bottom of the eighth. The loss for Russo was his fourth in a row.
Andrew Ayers and Will Soto each had RBI-singles in the first inning to get Sac State (31-19, 13-9 WAC) out to a 2-0 lead. Chris Lewis' RBI-single through the left side in the third extended the lead to 3-0.
A throwing error by Sheldon Daquioag in the sixth allowed David Del Grande to score the Hornets' fourth run.
The loss makes in seven straight for San Jose State. The Spartans entered the week as the WAC leader in hits, but are averaging only 8.6 hits and two runs per game during the losing streak
The Spartans and Hornets continue the series tomorrow at John Smith Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.