March 3, 2015
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose State's baseball team pounded out eight runs on 13 hits, but it wasn't enough to overcome Stanford's 13-run, 18-hit attack in Tuesday night's 13-8 loss to the Cardinal at Municipal Stadium.
With the loss, San Jose State's (4-8, 0-3 MW) skid reaches four games, while the Cardinal (7-6, 0-0 Pac-12) are back above .500.
"We wanted our guys to come out a little more aggressive and I think they did a good job of that," said head coach Dave Nakama. "We still have to do a better job of hitting with guys on base. We hit into a few double plays when we had something going, and it didn't quite work out. I think we hit more balls hard tonight and we scored more runs, so hopefully it will give our hitters some confidence this weekend."
Although they set a season high of their own with 15 hits, nine Spartan pitchers combined to allow season highs in runs, hit, RBIs and doubles by the Cardinal. In a game that finished five minutes shy of the four-hour mark, all 18 frames featured a runner on base, including at least one hit in the first 17.
Jonathan Hernandez (0-2) got the start and took the loss for the Spartans after taking a line drive off the ankle and departing in the second inning. Hernandez was charged with four runs on five hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Griffin Weir (1-0) picked up his first career win for the Cardinal, going 4.0 innings in relief and allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits while fanning five. Daniel Starwalt came on in the ninth to get a one-out save, the first of his career.
Sophomore Jake Swiech and freshman Jeremiah Wylie made their San Jose State debuts in relief, each tossing an inning.
Andre Mercurio led the Spartans' attack with a 3-for-5 day at the plate with a double, walk and three RBIs. Dillan Smith, Brett Bautista, Alec de Watteville and David Campbell each picked up two hits on the night. Mercurio has now reached base safely in 11 consecutive games while Bautista has reached in all nine games he's played, including hitting safely in his last eight.
The Cardinal maintained a healthy lead throughout the night by plating runs in six consecutive innings from the second through the seventh, including a four spot in the second and a pair of three-run innings in the third and fifth.
The Spartans were able to hang around, however, as they pushed across a run in the third and a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth. The game wound up in a save situation as San Jose State continued to chip away at the Cardinal's lead, scoring in each of the last three frames and ending the game with the tying run on deck.
"We always battle for nine innings and battle and score runs. We keep getting ourselves in too deep a hole that it's tough to get out of, especially when you play a good team like Stanford," Nakama said. "The walks are haunting us; we walked nine guys, hit a guy and gave up another couple of big innings. That's the tough part. We have to put it together and hopefully we can pitch a little better and keep up the hitting and play good defense, too."
The Air Force Falcons visit Municipal Stadium for a three-game Mountain West set beginning Friday at 6:00 p.m. and continuing Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.