April 6, 2014
San Jose, Calif. --- San Jose State took a 4-4 tie into the ninth inning of Sunday's rubber match with Nevada and allowed three runs for a 7-4 loss in Mountain West (MW) action at Municipal Stadium.
Ross Slaney (0-3) allowed a leadoff walk to start the top of the ninth. He was lifted in favor of Kalei Contrades who allowed a single and then hit his second batter to load the bases. The Wolf Pack went ahead 5-4 on a wild pitch down and outside to Nevada's pinch hitter Jay Anderson. Austin Byler scored on the play.
"You can't walk the leadoff guy in the ninth inning of a tie game," said Spartans' head coach Dave Nakama. "You just can't do that. It just put us in a bad spot.
Anderson then squeezed in the second run of the inning and Bryce Barger made it 7-4 with his RBI single to left field. The loss handed Nevada a 4-2 season-series win and prevented the Spartans from winning their first MW series of 2014.
Adam Whitt (4-3) tossed the final 1 2/3 innings for Nevada and now leads the team in wins and saves (6).
"It's been like that all year and that's why we have the record that we have," Nakama said. "We were fortunate to not be blown out after having to pitch out of jams all day."
SJSU starter Logan Handzlik got out of two bases-loaded, less than two out situations unscathed in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Handzlik fanned Bryce Greager and induced a fly out to end the threat and preserve a 3-3 tie. The sixth-inning jam ended with after an intentional walk loaded the bases and the next batter Jordan Devencenzi grounded into a double-play.
"On the positive, we've been working on our execution on offense and I thought we did well with that today," Nakama said. "We hit the ball okay but there were still a few that we left out there."
The two teams traded runs in the first and second innings. Byler hit his fourth home run of the year with two out in the first inning to give the Wolf Pack a 1-0 lead. San José State evened it up in the second when Sheldon Daquioag stole second base and was singled home by Brett Bautista.
After Nevada scored twice in the third, the Spartans got both runs back to tie the game in the fourth. Mike Simonini converted on a suicide squeeze and Kyle Gallegos hit a liner over the head of the left fielder for an RBI double to tie the game 3-3. Gallegos struck again in the sixth with an RBI single that put San Jose State ahead 4-3.
Handzlik scattered nine hits and allowed three earned runs in six innings before giving way to Slaney. It took Slaney 10 pitches to get through the seventh. In the eighth, T.J. Friedl pinch ran for Scott Kaplan, who doubled to start the frame, and came home to tie the game 4-4 on a ground ball hit to the shortstop.
San Jose State goes back out on the road next week with a Tuesday afternoon game at San Francisco and a three-game set at UNLV.
NOTES: Mike Simonini hit .375 and scored four runs with an RBI to lead SJSU in hitting for the series. Simonini extended an on-base streak to a team-best 14 games Sunday. Kyle Gallegos had his team-high fourth multi-RBI game of the season. The Spartans face UNLV next weekend who will be returning home after a nine-game road trip.