May 10, 2014
Colorado Springs, Colo. --- San Jose State baseball ended its Mountain West regular season with a tough day, getting swept by Air Force in a doubleheader. The Spartans blew a 5-0 lead in game one and lost 8-7 before allowing a walk-off double in the bottom of the 11th of game two for a 10-9 defeat.
"It came down to execution and the will to win," said SJSU head coach Dave Nakama. "They wanted to win more than we did. It's one of those things that have been going on all year."
Air Force (19-31, 9-18) took the series two games to one with the sweep on Saturday, and pulled even with San Jose State (17-36, 10-20) in the MW standings with one week remaining. While the Spartans are done with conference play, the Falcons travel to New Mexico next weekend needing one victory in a three-game set to take the sixth seed in the Mountain West Championship.
The two games featured a combined nine lead changes, and San Jose State had multiple chances to win in the late innings of both contests.
The most glaring chance in game two was when the Spartans had bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the tenth inning and failed to score. Mitch Ravizza's squeeze bunt attempted with a 3-2 count went foul, and the next batter Matt Carroll lined out to the pitcher who doubled up Sheldon Daquioag at first for an inning-ending double play.
"That's a squeeze bunt with a 3-2 count and our guys know it needs to be a strike," Nakama said. "If he throws a strike, you bunt it. If he throws a ball, you take it. We just didn't execute."
Ross Slaney (0-4) got the Falcons to go three up, three down in the bottom of the tenth. But Spencer Draws got to Slaney in the 11th with a one-out double, and two batters later the game ended when Noah Pierce knocked the game-winning hit off the wall in right field. Pierce was 4-for-6 in the contest and 6-for-10 on the day.
A three-run eighth inning gave the Spartans their first lead since the top of the first inning. After back-to-back hits from Daquioag and Matt Lopez, Carroll brought in the go-ahead run with a single to make it 9-8.
Bo Wilson (5-2) pitched the final 3 1/3 innings out of the Air Force pen to earn his second win of the day. SJSU starter Johnny Melero allowed a four-spot in the bottom of the first inning and was pulled before retiring a batter in the second.
Jacob Valdez hit the first of his two home runs on the day in the first inning of game one. The three-run shot, his first of the year and first since 2012, helped SJSU build a 5-0 lead in the first four innings. Mike Simonini and Kyle Gallegos both came up with two-out RBI singles in the Spartans' fourth.
One bad inning and three SJSU errors which led to five unearned runs aided Air Force's comeback. The Falcons had a six-run sixth inning, on six hits and a Spartans error.
The back-to-back singles which led off the inning both turned into runs when Carroll fielded a grounder and first and tossed the ball into the left center gap on his attempt to turn a double play at second base. Five of the next six Falcons batters reached safely, and the inning finally ended when Seth Kline tried to stretch his 2-run double into a triple, but was gunned out at third.
SJSU scored twice in the eighth to tie the game 7-7.Brett Bautista hit a sac-fly, and Alec de Watteville hit an RBI groundout. However, Air Force scored the game-winning run in the bottom half when Coleman Poge led off with a single, and scored two batters later when Lopez bobbled a ball hit to him in left field by Tyler Jones. Lopez still made the play close with a strong throw, but Poje was called safe at the plate.
James Glawe (4-2) suffered the loss in game one, allowing two unearned runs on five hits in three innings of work. Starter Jonathan Hernandez gave up 13 hits and six runs, three earned.
NOTES: Jacob Valdez's second homer of the day led off the Spartans' third inning of game two... His homer in game one was Valdez's first since May 5, 2012 ... 20 hits in game two was a season high for SJSU eclipsing a previous high of 14 ... SJSU is 3-3 in extra inning games ... The two teams played a doubleheader Saturday due to inclement weather in the forecast on Sunday.