April 10, 2016
Logan, Utah - San Jose State used four homers to build a 10-3 lead and went on to a 15-3 win to secure a series win over the Utah State Aggies on Sunday afternoon in Mountain West softball action.
Senior Jessie Hufstetler hit a pair of two-run shots. On the first she passed Brittany McConnell (2006-10) for the program lead in career RBI with 167 and staked SJSU to a 2-0 lead in the first.
Hufstetler (3-for-4, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR) blasted her second round tripper in the top of the fourth to extend the team's lead to 4-1. On that one she passed Pat Martinez (1993-96) for the program's total bases record. Including an RBI single in the seventh, she finished the day with 170 career RBIs, 365 total bases and moved to within one home run of Kara Kanney (27 in 1996-98, '00) for second place on the SJSU all-time home run list.
Utah State (19-15, 5-4 MW) pushed single runs across in the third, fourth and fifth innings to cut the Spartans lead to 4-3 heading to the sixth. With two outs and no one on, Hufstetler was hit with the first pitch she saw. Freshman Madison Aurin (3-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR) stepped to the plate and made the Aggies pay with a shot to left center, making it 6-3.
In the seventh the floodgates opened for the Spartans (18-19, 7-2 MW). San Jose State sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine times. SJSU loaded the bases with no outs. Brittany Abacherli then cleared them with a grand slam to dead center. It was her seventh homer of the season and made it 10-3.
Hufstetler and Aurin added RBI singles, Taylor Purdy had an RBI double and Casey Lester finished up with a two-run double. In total, the first nine Spartan batters in the inning reached base safely and each scored.
In the circle, Katelyn Linford pitched 4.1 innings to earn the win and improve her record to 4-8 on the year. She scattered eight hits and allowed three runs before making way for Emily Rogers with one out and runners on the corners in the fifth.
Rogers hit the first batter she faced. She then induced a pair of fly outs to leave the bases loaded in what would effectively be the Aggies last chance. Rogers finished the game and earned her second save of the season.
SJSU hosts the Aztecs in the three-game series April 15-17.
San Jose State 15, Utah State 3 (Apr 10, 2016 at Logan, Utah)
San Jose State...... 200 202 9 - 15 14 0 (18-19, 7-2 MW)
Utah State.......... 001 110 0 - 3 10 0 (19-15, 5-4 MW)
Pitchers: San Jose State - Linford, Katelyn; ROGERS, Emily(5) and . Utah State - JOHNSON, Noelle; BROWN, April(7); SCHROEDER, Katie(7) and .
Win-LINFORD, Katelyn(4-8) Save-ROGERS, Emily(2) Loss-JOHNSON, Noelle(8-9). T-2:10 A-222
HR SJ - Abacherli, Brittany (7); Hufstetler, Jessie 2 (5); Aurin, Madison (3).
HR US - JARAMILLO, Sarina (1).
Weather: 55 degrees, mostly cloudy