May 6, 2018
Las Vegas, Calif. --- The San Jose State baseball team (21-24, 11-12 MW) outlasted UNLV (30-19, 11-13 MW) to win, 10-8, and take the series, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Earl Wilson Stadium.
The Spartans have now won their fourth straight series and recorded their most conference wins with 11 since joining the Mountain West in 2013.
San Jose State is now tied for third place in the Mountain West standings with Air Force at 11-12. The Spartans moved 0.5 games ahead of UNLV in the standings and have one less loss in the loss-column than the fifth-place Rebels with the Sunday win. Fresno State is in sixth at 11-16 and is 2.0 games behind San Jose State and Air Force. The top four teams qualify for Mountain West Tournament at the end of the month.
"We are just focusing on one game at a time," said interim head coach Brad Sanfilippo. "UNLV is a really good team, we had to score to win that game. They are scary up and down the lineup, and they are very difficult to pitch to."
In the San Jose State's sixth road win in its last 10 outings away from home, Brett Bautista (1-for-4, 3R, 2RBI, BB) and David Campbell (4-for-5, 3RBI) had the big hits for the Spartans.
Bautista broke a 4-4 tie when he singled to right field with two outs in the top of the fourth to drive home Connor Konishi (1-for-4, 2R, BB) and Aaron Pleschner (1-for-3, R) for a 6-4 lead.
Campbell broke the game open in the sixth when he singled through the right side to score Shane Timmons (2-for-4, 2R, RBI, BB) and Bautista for a 10-5 lead.
In the two wins at UNLV, Campbell was 7-for-10 with two doubles with four RBI and scored two runs from the designated hitter position.
Kellen Strahm's 18 game hit streak came to an end in Sunday's contest. The sophomore began his streak on April 3 when the Spartans were at UC Davis.
UNLV flirted with a comeback when they scored two runs in the ninth and had the game-tying runner in scoring position. Fineas Del Bonta-Smith struck out Jack-Thomas Wold to shut the door on the Rebels' comeback, seal the Spartans series win and move San José State into a third-place tie in the conference standings with two weeks remaining in the regular season.
Tevin Cadola (2-2) earned his second win of the season allowing four earned runs in 6.0 innings. This season Cadola has allowed 10 earned runs to Mountain West opponents in 27.0 innings.
The Spartans will travel to Cal Poly on Wednesday, May 9 for a 6:00 p.m. non-conference game.