May 14, 2016
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Long Beach State scored just one unearned run off Josh Nashed, but San Jose State fell victim to a dominant Darren McCaughan in a 2-0 loss.
The Spartans (16-35) saw their scoreless drought reach 17.1 innings after Long Beach State (30-18) pitching kept them off the board after the first inning on Friday.
McCaughan (W, 8-1) entered Saturday's contest with the best numbers on a solid Dirtbags' pitching staff and looked the part. He fired a complete game one-hitter and struck out four en route to lowering his ERA to a stellar 2.10. The Spartans hit several balls hard that looked like they had chances to fall in safely but were denied by the Dirtbag defense.
Justin Beck's fifth-inning single into left center represented San Jose State's lone hit of the day. The only other baserunner, Joe Stefanki, was hit by a McCaughan fastball in the first inning.
Nashed (L, 0-5) had an excellent outing of his own for San Jose State. He continued his trend of tough-luck losses this season, going 5.0 innings and yielding just an unearned run. The sophomore scattered three hits and struck out four.
The first hit for either team came in the form of a one-out double by Brooks Stotler in the bottom of the third inning. After Stotler advanced to third on a groundout, leadoff hitter Jarren Duran chopped a ball toward the 4-3 hole that Shane Timmons bobbled and tossed too late to Nashed covering first.
Graham Gomez took over for Nashed in the sixth and tossed the final 3.0 innings. He fired a quick sixth inning before running into trouble in the seventh and allowing a run, but rebounded to toss a scoreless ninth.
The series wraps up Sunday at 1:00 p.m. from Blair Field. Hilario Tovar will take the ball for the Spartans and go up against Tanner Brown.