May 15, 2016
LONG BEACH, Calif. - San Jose State held a 2-1 lead midway through four innings but a pair of solo homers by Long Beach State in the middle innings was enough to hand the Spartans a 6-2 loss Sunday afternoon at Blair Field.
The Spartans (16-36) doubled their hits and runs output from the first two games combined, but the Dirtbags (31-18) were able to complete the sweep. San Jose State fell to 4-6 against Big West foes this season.
In another departure from the first two games, San Jose State put a pair of runners on in the first inning, this time against Tanner Brown. Joe Stefanki and Brendt Citta laced back-to-back one-out singles up the middle, and two batters later, Josh Nashed bounded a ball through the left side. Left fielder Brock Lunquist ran in, scooped it up and fired a strike to Eric Hutting at the plate to nab Stefanki at the plate and extend the Spartans' scoreless streak.
Lundquist came to bat in the bottom of the first with the bases loaded and one out against Hilario Tovar (L, 2-4) and singled through the left side to drive in the first run of the day.
Corey Olivet led off the third with a base hit box up the box, and two batters later, scampered around the bags and scored from first on Stefanki's double to right field. Olivet was the first Spartan to score in 19.1 innings, dating back to the first inning of Friday night's ballgame.
In the fourth, Josh Nashed led off the inning by driving Brown's 3-1 pitch deep over the left field fence for a go-ahead home run - the first of his career. Nashed's blast also chased Brown from the game. He lasted just 3.0-plus innings and allowed the two runs on six hits while fanning three.
Long Beach State's Daniel Jackson answered with a solo shot of his own in the bottom half that knotted the game back up at 2-2. A leadoff triple followed by an RBI single in the fifth gave the Dirtbags a lead they would never relinquish. Garrett Hampson's homer later in the inning provided an insurance run and 4-2 lead.
Tovar departed after the fifth with four runs on eight hits on his ledger. He struck out two and hit one of the 24 batters he faced. Josh Goldberg worked the sixth and induced three consecutive fly outs. Zach Wallace got the next 1.2 innings and was touched for two runs on four hits.
Nashed (2-3, walk, home run), Stefanki (2-3, walk, double, RBI) and and Olivet (2-4, run) posted two-hit outings for the Spartans, who totaled 10 on the day. Citta (1-3, walk), Aaron Pleschner (1-4), Shane Timmons (1-4) and Ozzy Braff (1-4) added hits.
San Jose State wraps up the regular season campaign when it hosts San Diego State next weekend in a Thursday through Saturday series.