May 15, 2015
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- San Jose State's baseball team shut out visiting UNLV in the opener of Friday's doubleheader at Municipal Stadium, but saw the Rebels' offense come alive in the nightcap to work a split on the evening.
With San Jose State (13-42, 6-23 MW) winning once and UNLV (23-29. 9-20 MW) losing once, the schools are now guaranteed to square off in next Wednesday's play-in game of the 2015 Mountain West Championship. That game will get underway Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. from Peccole Park in Reno, Nev.
In the opener on Friday, Kalei Contrades (4-9) and Matt Brown combined for a four-hit shutout of the Rebels in a 3-0 win. Contrades, a senior, worked the first 5.0 innings in his last appearance at Municipal Stadium, allowing two hits and striking out five. Brown took over in the sixth and finished out the rest of the game to earn a 4.0-inning save.
"In that first game we pitched real well," said head coach Dave Nakama. "Then we got some hits -- not a lot of hits, but some timely hits -- to score some runs and we were fortunate they made some errors."
Andre Mercurio had his fingerprints all over the Spartans' offense in the opener. The senior center fielder went 3-for-4 at the dish, scoring one run and driving in another, and swiped three bases to set a new single-game career high.
The Spartans also took advantage of a pair of Rebel errors in the fourth inning to bring home a run.
In the nightcap, Mercurio recorded another three-hit effort, this time going 3-for-5, but San Jose State was only able to collect four other hits as a team in a 9-3 loss.
Josh Nashed (3-5), Turtle Kuhaulua and Josh Goldberg couldn't slow UNLV's offense and saw the Rebels score two in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and three more in the ninth.
The Spartans cut a 6-0 deficit in half with a three-run fifth inning aided by two Rebel errors, but were held scoreless the rest of the way.
"The second game we just gave them too much too early, and they just pitched better than us," Nakama said. "We didn't have enough opportunities to score runs, and then when we did, we put up a three spot. We were just too far behind."
The rubber match of the series will get underway at 1:10 p.m. Saturday, with a Senior Day ceremony honoring Contrades, Mercurio and Myles Richard taking place at the top of the hour.