May 25, 2018
San Diego, Calif. --- San Jose State University (27-29) upset the Mountain West regular season champion, Nevada (29-24), 13-6, Friday afternoon in a conference tournament elimination game at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
"I am extremely proud of this team's effort," said interim head coach Brad Sanfilippo. "They show up to play, and it's a pleasure to be a part of this team. We had an emotional loss last night, and it doesn't shock me to see how this team showed up today."
The Spartans' offense erupted for 13 runs against the Wolf Pack after recording just one run the night before against San Diego State. The 13 runs are a team-high at the Mountain West Tournament, eclipsing the previous record of 11 against Air Force on May 21, 2014.
The Spartans also batted .400 (6-for-15) with two outs and scored eight two-out runs.
Two of David Campbell's four RBI's came with two outs. He set a Spartan record four RBI's in a Mountain West Tournament game.
"I'm just not trying to do much," said Campbell. "My teammates do a great job of getting on base, and all I try to do is go up there and hit the ball hard."
Campbell went 3-for-6, and scored once. He got the Spartans on the board first when he doubled down the right field line with one out to score Kellen Strahm (2-for-3, 2R, 2RBI) in the first inning.
Five Spartans recorded a multi-hit and multi-RBI game: Strahm, Campbell, Shane Timmons (3-for-5, R, 2RBI), Johnny Mendoza (2-for-4, 2R, 2RBI), and Aaron Pleschner (2-for-5, 2R, 2RBI).
Heading into the May 25 game with #1-seed Nevada, the Spartans were 1-5 against the Wolf Pack this season.
Tevin Cadola started on the mound for San Jose State, pitched five straight shutout innings and racked up seven strikeouts in 6.1 innings to notch his third win of the year.
In the Wolf Pack's sixth they hit a pair of two-run homers off of Cadola. However, the Spartans answered with five runs the following inning.
"This has been our story all year long," said Cadola. "We have more fight in us then anyone I have ever played with. It's not surprising to me that we came out and performed the way we did after last night's loss. I will remember this team forever for their ability to battle the way they do."
The Spartans will play UNLV Saturday, May 26, at 1:30 p.m. in their second elimination game of the tournament. Should San Jose State emerge victorious over the Rebels, the Spartans will face host San Diego State in the 6:00 p.m. nightcap in another must-win situation. The Aztecs defeated UNLV, 4-3 in 12 innings, following San Jose State's win over Nevada to stay unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament.