April 15, 2014
Santa Clara, Calif. --- San Jose State baseball jumped out to an early lead and never relinquished it in a 10-7 win over Santa Clara in nonconference action at Stephen Schott Stadium on Tuesday night.
"We tried to put some pressure on them early," said SJSU head coach Dave Nakama. "We wanted to get our guys swinging the bat."
The Spartans jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings. Andre Mercurio got the offense going when he led off the game with a walk and scored from third on a squeeze bunt by Jacob Valdez.
The early scoring though was highlighted by Kyle Gallegos' 3-run double in the second. His shot into left field was the third of the inning, as Matt Carroll and Brett Bautista led off with back-to-back two-baggers.
"The pitching tonight was good," Nakama said. "I thought it could have been a little better though."
SJSU starter Johnny Melero (2-4) exited after the second inning, handing a 7-0 lead over to a committee of relievers. The Broncos scored two in the third and another in the fourth when Casey Munos hit his second home run of the year, a solo blast, cutting the Spartans' lead to 7-3.
San Jose State got two of the runs back in the fifth when Carroll doubled home Matt Lopez who led off with a walk. Carroll came in two batters later on a fielder's choice hit by Alec de Watteville to make it 9-3.
It was de Watteville's second RBI of the game after knocking in a run with a third-inning triple.
The Santa Clara offense continued to battle the Spartans' pen, which has been stingy as of late. Michael Wright gave up a double and three consecutive two-out singles leading to a pair of Broncos runs in the seventh, making it 9-5.
Nakama stuck with Wright for the bottom of the eighth, and he sat down three batters with eight pitches.
Gallegos and Sheldon Daquioag hit San Jose State's sixth and seventh double of the game respectively in the top of the ninth. Daquioag's double gave the Spartans a five-run lead, which became significant when the Broncos loaded the bases in the bottom half with nobody out.
Two Santa Clara runs came home in the ninth to make it 10-7 before Jackson Berumen struck out pinch hitter C.J. Jacobe swinging to end the game.
It was just the fourth time in 10 years (16 games) that SJSU has won on Santa Clara's home field.
"You always feel good heading into the weekend with a win," Nakama said. "But we have our work cut out for us."
SJSU hosts the Mountain West leading New Mexico Lobos this weekend for a three-game series.
NOTES: Lopez extended his hit streak to a career-high nine games...five Spartans have a hit streak of three or more...Mercurio has reached base in 13 consecutive games...Gallegos stole his team-leading seventh base in the ninth inning...Gallegos and Carroll each have six hits in the last two games.