May 22, 2014
Las Vegas, Nev. --- After a tough regular season where San Jose State won 18 games, the Mountain West Championship tournament provided the team a fresh start and new life. With that, SJSU captured its first conference tournament victory since 2011 with a convincing 11-3 win over Air Force on Wednesday. But the ride came to an end on Thursday when the Spartans fell 4-0 to Nevada for their second loss of the double-elimination championship at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. The defeat ended the 2014 season where San Jose State finished with a 19-38 record.
"I think in a way we took steps this year," said Spartans head coach Dave Nakama. "I really think we played better than last year, we just don't have much to show for it. We will get better."
Senior Kyle Gallegos led the Spartans on offense during the three games of the tournament. He went 7-for-12 with three runs and two RBI. He finished the final game of his career Thursday with two of SJSU's 10 hits against Wolf Pack starter Jason Deitrich (3-2), who threw a complete-game shutout.
The five seniors in the SJSU batting order: Gallegos, Matt Carroll, Sheldon Daquioag, Jacob Valdez and Matt Lopez, finished the championship hitting over .350 collectively, while knocking in 10 of the team's 12 runs.
"I appreciate these seniors," Nakama said. "They had a tough two years of transitioning to our staff, but they were great examples of what we want players to be like here. They served as great ambassadors of this program, and they'll always be a part of it."
Senior pitchers James Glawe and Johnny Melero combined to toss five shutout innings against Nevada in their final appearances. In his first-career start, Myles Richard (2-4) surrendered four earned runs on eight hits in three innings of work for the loss.
Nevada led off the second inning with three consecutive singles which gave the Wolf Pack a 1-0 lead. They made it 3-0 two batters later on Kyle Hunt's 2-run single. A fourth-inning leadoff double followed by an error, a passed ball and a wild pitch allowed Nevada to score the fourth run.
Second-team All-MW choice Kalei Contrades went 2-for-4 as the starting right fielder, one day after dominating Air Force with a complete game on the mound which included 11 strikeouts.
Alec de Watteville, Mike Simonini and Tyler Olivet also registered hits on Thursday.