March 5, 2016
LAS VEGAS - San Jose State's baseball team pounded out 13 hits and scored 10 unanswered runs to pick up an 11-6 win and even the series with UNLV Saturday afternoon inside a blustery Earl E. Wilson Stadium.
UNLV (2-6, 1-1 MW) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning and then held a 6-1 lead after four, but saw San Jose State (5-7, 1-1 MW) break out the bats over the final five innings. The Spartans scored three in the fifth, five in the seventh and two in the eighth to run away with their first Mountain West win of the season.
"The guys should be confident. This is huge for them," said head coach Dave Nakama. "They came back and things were tough. It was windy and everything else, and they did a good job. I have to give them credit."
The first five hitters in the San Jose State lineup - Aaron Pleschner, Joe Stefanki, Josh Nashed, Shane Timmons and David Campbell - combined for 10 hits and 10 RBIs. Stefanki (4-5, two runs, three RBIs) posted the first four-hit game of his career and also drove in three runs for the first time. Timmons (1-5, two RBIs) extended his hitting streak to seven games and upped his conference-best mark of 13 RBIs.
Hilario Tovar (1-2) picked up his first win of the season - the second of his career - in relief of starter Logan Handzlik. Handzlik cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. UNLV touched him for four runs on four hits in the inning. Tovar tossed the next 4.1 innings and allowed five hits and a pair of runs, both of which came in his first inning of work.
Zach Wallace and Josh Goldberg combined to throw the final 1.2 scoreless frames for San Jose State.
"Every win for is big for us. We were down 6-1 and then Tovar came in and did a good job, and then we started swinging the bats with guys on base. They did a good job. I have to give the kids credit. They did a good job. I told them it was going to be a grind and they grinded it out for sure."
The series rubber match starts Sunday at 1:05 p.m. Matt Brown (1-0, 3.48) gets the nod for the Spartans while the Rebels will go with Kenny Oakley (0-2, 7.88).