Feb. 28, 2014
Reno, Nev. --- San Jose State staged a comeback that fell short for a 6-4 loss at Nevada in Mountain West action on a cold and rainy Friday evening at Peccole Park.
Trailing 6-1, the Spartans scored three two-out runs in the seventh inning. The tying run came to the plate twice in the SJSU ninth, but the inning ended without any damage done.
"Errors are what cost us this game," said Spartans' head coach Dave Nakama. "We just aren't playing good baseball right now and we have to do better."
San Jose State (2-8, 1-3 MW) made three costly errors that led to Nevada (3-6, 1-3 MW) runs. Two of the errors were committed in the fifth inning when the Wolf Pack scored three runs and jumped out to a 4-0 lead. A third unearned run came across in the Nevada sixth.
"I thought Melero and Slaney pitched pretty well," Nakama said. "But we just played awful and the team has to play a better game.
Johnny Melero (0-1) pitched 6.0 innings in his third start of the year and took the loss. He gave up three earned runs on eight hits and struck out two.
Offensively, San Jose State got good production from the heart of the order. The 3-through-6 hitters: Jacob Valdez, Kyle Gallegos, Brett Bautista and Matt Carroll combined to go 8-for-16 (.500) and each scored a run.
Bautista was a big part of the two-out rally in the seventh for the Spartans. His hit streak extended to five games when he bounced one down the first-base line for a 2-run single. Carroll had the best offensive effort of the season going 3-for-4 with an RBI-single in the sixth. Valdez had his fourth multi-hit game of the year.
Michael Fain (1-1) picked up his first win of the season for Nevada. He scattered five hits and gave up one unearned run in 5.2 innings pitched. Adam Whitt (2) earned the save.
The series between the Spartans and Wolf Pack continues tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m.