March 18, 2014
San Jose, Calif. --- San Jose State was unable to climb back from an early four-run deficit on Tuesday night and went on to lose 7-2 to San Francisco (USF) in nonconference action at Municipal Stadium.
Four of the first six Dons to bat in the opening frame reached with a hit off of Spartans starter Jace Puckett (0-2). After half an inning, USF led 3-0.
Matt Lopez's RBI-double in the bottom of the first cut the lead to 3-1, but the Dons struck for two more runs in the third, extending the lead to 5-1.
Lopez doubled again in the sixth inning, and came around to score on Jacob Valdez's single through the right side. With the score 5-2, San Jose State brought the tying run to the plate in both the seventh and eighth innings. Both of which the Spartans made the final out by a strikeout with a runner in scoring position.
USF tacked on two more runs, both unearned, in the ninth inning to make the score 7-2.
"It was just a poorly played game on our part," said Spartans' head coach Dave Nakama. "It's too bad because we were coming off of a win on Sunday where we played well. Then we play like this today and it's embarrassing."
San Jose State matched its second-highest hit total of the season with 11, but stranded 12 men on base. The team was 4-for-23 (.174) with men on base, and 7-for-14 (.500) with the bases empty. Lopez, Kyle Gallegos, Brett Bautista and Alec de Watteville all had multi-hit games.
The Spartans (6-16) and the Dons (9-9) each pitched by committee in the contest, combining for 15 different hurlers. Puckett took the loss for SJSU after allowing three earned runs on six hits in 2.0 innings. Matt Narahara (1-2) got the win for the Dons allowing one earned run on three hits in 2.0 innings.
Looking forward, SJSU hits the road for a three-game Mountain West series against the New Mexico Lobos. 12 of the next 15 for the Spartans will be contested away from home.