March 26, 2016
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Aaron Pleschner's pinch-hit walk-off single in the 10th inning lifted San Jose State to a 3-2 win over visiting Fresno State on Saturday afternoon at Municipal Stadium.
With the game in a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 10th, Josh Nashed led off with a base hit to left field. After Justin Beck laid down a sac bunt to move him to second, the Bulldogs intentionally walked Michael Breen and unintentionally walked Corey Olivet to load the bases. Head coach Dave Nakama called on Pleschner to pinch hit, and the freshman lifted Dylan Lee's 1-0 into shallow center field, where a diving Brody Russell could not come up with it.
"It was a big spot. I was just trying to come in and do my job and ultimately get the win for the team," Pleschner said.
"We're fortunate that in the last inning we were able to come through," Nakama said. "If you look at [Pleschner's] stats, he has a lot of RBIs and he makes contact. "That's the first thing that we needed; we needed some contact and not a strikeout. He's been very reliable for us."
For the Spartans (7-15, 3-8 MW), the win snapped a six-game skid and ended Fresno State's (16-8, 6-3 MW) five-game streak. San Jose State was able to salvage the series finale after the Bulldogs wrapped up the series with wins Thursday and Friday.
Nashed, also San Jose State' starting pitcher, faced the minimum in his first trip through the Bulldogs' lineup before running into trouble in the fourth. A double by Jake Stone followed by a base hit by Russell put runners at the corners, and Stone came in to score when Nashed's attempted pickoff sailed down the right field line.
San Jose State got the run back in the home half on a sacrifice fly by Justin Beck, and took the lead in the fifth on Ozzy Braff's booming double off the top of the left field wall. Braff collected three hits in five at-bats on the afternoon and raised his average to .338 for the season.
After keeping the Bulldogs quiet in the fifth and sixth, Nashed could not collect an out in the seventh. A walk and three singles loaded the bases and plated the tying run, and Nakama called on Zach Wallace out of the pen, who induced a fly out. Josh Goldberg to match up with the right-handed Scott Silva, who chopped a ball to third that Beck fielded and threw home for the force. The next hitter, Joe Prior, grounded a ball into the 5-6 hole that Breen collected and fired to second to keep the game in a 2-2 tie and set up extras.
Nashed finished with a line of 6.0+ innings pitched and two runs allowed on seven hits while walking one and striking out four. Goldberg (2-0) earned his second win of the season with 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed a lone hit and struck out one.
"Josh has pitched good all year, and he's going to be a be a good pitcher down the road. He gives us a chance to win, and that's what we needed today," Nakama said. "Fortunately, we were able to score a couple more runs than they did."
San Jose State wraps up the four-game homestand with a visit from Stanford on Monday night at 6:00 p.m.