April 5, 2014
San Jose, Calif. --- A ninth-inning two-out rally nearly secured San Jose State's first Mountain West series victory of 2014, but the Spartans had to settle for a split in Saturday's doubleheader against Nevada at Municipal Stadium.
After consecutive two-out walks in the bottom of the ninth, Jacob Valdez's RBI single cut Nevada's lead to 6-5, which would end up being the final score of game two as Matt Carroll went down hacking to end things.
"I don't think we played well today," said Spartans' head coach Dave Nakama. "We were lucky to get a win in the first game. We had trouble getting the lead off guy out all day and three times he came around to score."
Every run for each team proved important as both contests ended with a one-run difference. San Jose State opened the double dip with a 2-1 win. Johnny Melero and Michael Wright (1-4) combined to pitch five scoreless innings in the victory.
Matt Carroll put SJSU on the board in the first inning with a two-out RBI single which scored Andre Mercurio from third base. Mercurio led off the game with a base hit.
When the Spartans and Wolf Pack opened up their first series of the year back on February 28, Kalei Contrades entered in 0-for-18 at the plate. He collected his first hit of the year that series and today, he registered his fourth hit in his last three games - a fifth-inning RBI double off the wall in left field.
Contrades proved effective on the mound as well, pitching a scoreless final two frames to secure his second save of the year.
San Jose State took a 2-0 lead into the seventh where Nevada's Kyle Hunt walked and scored a run on a sacrifice fly hit by Jordan Devencenzi. That was all the Wolf Pack offense, which left 11 men stranded on base, could muster in game one.
"I thought the bullpen in the first game looked pretty good," Nakama said. It was tough to see us come out not being ready to pitch in the second game."
The Wolf Pack came out in the nightcap and scored three runs in the first three frames against Spartans starter Jonathan Hernandez (0-4). Hernandez allowed seven hits and four earned runs in four innings of work.
Trailing 4-0 San Jose State scored twice in the fifth. Mike Simonini suicide-squeezed in Sheldon Daquioag for the first run, and a wild throw from Nevada's starter Barry Timko (3-1) allowed a run to score one batter later.
Both teams traded runs in the seventh and eighth innings. Daquioag scored on a Contrades sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Matt Lopez's RBI single up the middle made it a 6-4 game in the bottom of the eighth.
Notes: Contrades entered the game as a subsitute to start the second inning and finished the day 2-for-6 at the plate with two RBI, and a run to go along with his save. A Spartan win on Sunday would even the 2014 season series 3-3. Logan Handzlik (2-1. 4.42) will make his fifth start of the year Sunday for SJSU.