April 26, 2016
STOCKTON, Calif. - Brendt Citta's three-run home run in the fifth inning lifted San Jose State past a pesky Pacific team, 9-7, in Tuesday's nonconference matchup at Klein Family Field.
With the win, the Spartans (13-27) completed a season sweep of the Tigers (17-21) after a wild walk-off win back in March.
Jake Swiech (W, 1-2) made his first career start and picked up the first win of his career. The junior right-hander went the first 3.0 innings and allowed one run on four hits while fanning three. Jonathan Hernandez worked a perfect eighth in his lone inning of work, and Matt Brown (S, 2) closed it out with a 1-2-3 ninth, including a pair of strikeouts.
All nine of San Jose State's starters contributed to the 13-hit output. Citta (2-4, run, home run, four RBIs), Josh Nashed (2-5, two runs, double, RBI), Hunter Tidwell (2-5, two runs, RBI) and Michael Breen (2-4, run) led the way.
A two-out rally in the second inning produced the first two Spartan runs of the night. Back-to-back singles by Tidwell and Breen set the table for Dillan Smith, who laced a ball in the 4-3 hole that kicked off the glove of second baseman Vinny Margiotta, allowing Tidwell to score. Aaron Pleschner followed up with a single to right to pull back into the team lead in RBIs with 23.
Ozzy Braff got another rally started with a leadoff single in the top of the third. After a Shane Timmons walk, Nashed scored Braff with an RBI double to short left field. Citta added a sacrifice fly and Tidwell an RBI groundout to put the Spartans up 5-1.
In the fifth, Timmons and Nashed roped back-to-back one-out singles, and Citta cashed in with a towering three-run blast over the left field fence that made it an 8-1 ballgame. The home run was the second of his career and gave him four RBIs on the night - tying his career high.
Pacific put together a five-run home half of the fifth to cut the lead to 8-6 and make things interesting, but drew no closer than two runs the rest of the way. Smith drove in Tidwell with an RBI single to left in the top of the seventh, but the Tigers answered with a run of their own in the bottom half. Hernandez and Brown combined to make the two-run lead stick, though, and the Spartans held on for a second consecutive victory.
San Jose State returns home for a five-game set beginning this weekend against UNLV.