April 13, 2018
San Jose, Calif. --- Despite a five run sixth inning, the San Jose State baseball team (12-20, 4-11 MW) fell 11-7 in the series opener to Fresno State (21-12, 8-8 MW) Friday night at Bob Bennett Stadium.
The Spartans scored first in the first inning on a sacrifice fly with one out from Chris Williams (1-for-4, R, RBI) to score Kellen Strahm (1-for-4, R, RBI).
The Bulldogs fired back in their first with a three-run homer from Zach Presno (3-for-5, 2R, 3RBI) with two outs to give Fresno State a 4-1 advantage.
In two outs situations on Friday, the Bulldogs hit 7-for-14 and recorded 8 of their 11 runs.
In the Spartan's sixth, trailing 11-2 to the 'dogs, Kyle Morrison (2-for-4, R, RBI) doubled down the left field line with no outs to send Shane Timmons (2-for-4, R) to home plate.
Morrison was 2-for-4 with an RBI scoring one run on the day. In the last five games, Morrison is batting .476 and leads the team with six RBI's.
David Campbell (0-for-2, RBI) then flied out to center field on a sac fly to score Williams. With the bases loaded and one out, pinch hitter, Michael Bowes (0-for-0, RBI) was hit on the helmet and scored Morrison bring the Spartan deficit to six. Brett Bautista (1-for-4, RBI) then flied out to center field to score Connor Konishi (2-for-4, R). Strahm singled to right field with two outs and drove Jace Duty (0-for-2, 2R) to home plate and made it 11-7.
Nicholas Morales (1-4) pitched 4.0 innings recording 4 strikeouts and allowing zero earned runs. Morales came up clutch in the bottom of the seventh when he struck out Torin Goldstein (3-for-5, 2R, 3RBI) with a full count and two outs to keep the game within four runs.
The winning pitcher was Ryan Jensen (2-3). Jensen pitched three shutout innings, and had four strikeouts.
The Spartans will play Fresno State in game two Saturday, April 14 at 6:05 p.m. at Bob Bennett Stadium.