March 17, 2015
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose State's baseball team nearly staged a ninth-inning comeback against visiting Saint Mary's, but left the tying run on first base in an 8-6 loss Tuesday night at Municipal Stadium.
Seven San Jose State (7-13, 1-5 MW) pitchers combined to yield 10 walks on the night, with four coming in a three-run top half of the eighth-inning in which two of the Gaels' (13-7, 2-1 WCC) runs were walked in.
After Andre Mercurio and Ozzy Braff reached base in the ninth, Gaels closer Anthony Gonsolin moved from left field to the mound to pick up his WCC-leading 6th save of the season. RBI base hits by Chris Williams and David Campbell plated a pair of runs to cut the lead in half, but the tying run was stranded on first after a strikeout and deep fly out to right.
"I don't think it ever should have gotten to that," said Spartans' head coach Dave Nakama. "We walked 10 guys in that eighth inning, and if you take that off the board it's a tie game and it's a different story. When you walk 10 guys you put yourself in a hole, and we just came up short, but it shouldn't have gotten to that."
Carter Johnson (0-1) was tagged with his first career loss for San Jose State. Johnson got himself into a jam in his lone inning of work with a leadoff walk followed by a base hit, but came one batter away from getting out of it unscathed. With two outs and two on, Anthony Villa blasted a three-run homer over the center field fence for a 3-2 lead that the Gaels would never return.
Wes Malik (1-0) picked up his first collegiate win for the Gaels with a 3.0-inning relief effort in which he allowed a lone run and struck out a pair.
The Spartans outhit the Gaels, 11-to-7, led by three-hit efforts from Campbell (3-5, double, two RBIs), Brett Bautista (3-5, double, two runs, two RBIs) and a two-hit game by Williams (2-5, run, RBI). Mercurio, Dillan Smith and Jack Veasey also chipped in with base hits.
Ozzy Braff made his San Jose State debut Tuesday after returning from an injury and scored a pair of runs despite going hitless on the evening.
"He has experience and he's a good player. We have to try to fit him in there and get him going a little bit," Nakama said. "It's tough for him too because he hasn't seen live pitching or gotten many at-bats. We're just trying to give him some at-bats and bring him along."
San Jose State dives back into Mountain West action this weekend with a trip to Fresno State. First pitch for Friday's game is scheduled for 6:35 p.m., with Saturday's contest getting underway at 2:05 p.m. and the series wrapping up Sunday at 1:05 p.m.