May 4, 2014
San Jose, Calif. --- Before Sunday's game San Jose State faithful honored the seven members of the 2014 senior class, and then the Spartans returned the favor honoring the fans with a 5-2 defeat of Fresno State in the team's final home game of 2014. SJSU captured its first Mountain West (MW) series of the year with its second win in the three-game set versus the Bulldogs.
"It feels really good to get that first series win today," said senior first baseman Matt Carroll. " I knew we weren't going all year without winning a series. This is a huge win and it feels amazing for it to happen on senior day."
San Jose State sent all nine hitters in the starting lineup to the plate, and gave senior starting pitcher Johnny Melero a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Andre Mercurio singled and senior second baseman Jacob Valdez swung and missed at strike three but reached on a passed ball to set the table. The seniors continued to put their stamp on the first inning with three consecutive hits by Sheldon Daquioag, Matt Lopez and Carroll. Daquioag and Lopez each singled, and then Carroll ripped a bases-clearing 2-run double to left-center.
"All the seniors were excited today," Carroll said. "We feed a lot off of each other. It's something we've been doing it since freshmen year for a few of us, and it's exciting to see it play out on the field."
The Spartans (16-33, 9-18 MW) put another run on the board in the second that extended the lead to 5-0. Senior catcher Kyle Gallegos doubled down the left-field line and scored two batters later on Daquioag's second RBI-single of the game.
"We were trying to be aggressive early in the count, and we got the timely hits we needed with guys on base," said SJSU head coach Dave Nakama. "This was a great win for our seniors and I was really happy to see Melero and Glawe get in the game and perform well."
Righty reliever James Glawe (4-1) entered the game in the fifth inning and tossed two hitless innings on the way to a win. Melero finished four innings and allowed two earned runs on seven hits. Myles Richard earned his second save of the series with his three innings of shutout ball to close the game.
"Throwing strikes was the key today for all of our pitcher, and they did a great job doing that," Nakama said. "Another key today was good defense."
Mike Simonini at third and Alec de Watteville at short played a solid defensive game for SJSU. Both of them made a stab on a hard hit ball and started an around-the-horn double plays which were key in limiting Fresno State to just one inning with runs.
The home portion of the season is over but five regular season game still remain ahead. The Spartans will play a Tuesday afternoon game at USF Tuesday night before heading to Air Force for the final MW series of the year.