April 9, 2017
A post shared by San Jose State Baseball (@sjsubaseball) on Apr 9, 2017 at 12:20pm PDT
Box Score
SAN JOSE, Calif. - With a Spartan runner in scoring position in a 5-5 tie ballgame in the bottom of the ninth, the clock hit ten minutes past the four o'clock hour, abruptly ending the game due to travel curfew on Sunday afternoon.
Prior to the series, the San Jose State and New Mexico baseball teams agreed to the 4:10 p.m. PT travel curfew time or `drop dead time' where once the time is reached, the game would end so New Mexico could catch their flight back home.
Thus ended the two-game weekend series that saw Saturday's game get cancelled due to overnight rain. The Spartans went undefeated in the series against Mountain West conference leading Lobos, gaining a game and a half in the standings.
The Spartans now sit at 12-17-1 overall (6-7-1 MW) and the Lobos 18-12-1 (11-2-1 MW).
The Lobos would have made their curfew with a win if not for the heroics of Spartans slugger Shane Timmons.
Down two runs in the bottom of the ninth, with essentially the clock ticking, Aaron Pleschner (2-for-4, R), led off the inning with a single off the first pitch. Timmons (2-for-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, HR) followed with a two-run homer on the second pitch against Lobos reliever Justin Slaten to tie up the game.
Timmons matched his career-high with four RBIs in the game and had a hand in all five SJSU runs scoring the game's first run on a David Campbell single (1-for-3, RBI) in the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, the junior from Mission Viejo, Calif. hit an RBI sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 in favor of the Spartans.
SJSU starter Jake Swiech had a solid start to the game, allowing just one hit and striking out four Lobos through the first three innings. However, in the fourth, Swiech ran into some issues giving up four runs on five consecutive hits including an error on a pickoff attempt.
Joseph Balfour, the scheduled Sunday starter if not for Saturday's rain cancellation, replaced Swiech and promptly got the Spartans out of the inning.
After New Mexico's four run fourth inning, Timmons hit a double to the left center gap, scoring Jack Veasey (1-for-4, R) all the way from first to cut New Mexico's lead to one run, 4-3.
Balfour pitched four strong innings allowing just a hit and two walks to keep the Spartans in the game along with Zach Wallace who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.
In the top of the ninth, the Lobos appeared to add an insurance run on back-to-back doubles against Hilario Tovar but that was erased on Timmons' homerun in the bottom of the frame.
San Jose State will play next on Tuesday night against the Stanford Cardinal at the Municipal Stadium. First pitch is 7:00 p.m. PT.