SAN JOSE, Calif. - The San José State baseball team was held scoreless through the first seven innings and lost to UC Riverside, 12-3, in a non-conference game on Saturday at Municipal Stadium.
Highlanders (2-5) starter Shamus Lyons, a southpaw, scattered eight hits in 7.1 scoreless innings of work before running into trouble in the eighth inning. He was the winning pitcher and improved to 1-1 on the young season.
San José State (4-2) ended Lyons' bid for a shutout in the eighth by scoring all three of its runs for the game. Pinch hitter Nik Trapani got things started with a leadoff double to right-center field. Three batters later Aaron Pleschner knocked Trapani in for SJSU's first run, and knocked Lyons out of the game.
The Spartans had four hits in the inning, including Blake Berry's line-drive off the foot of Highlanders reliever Abbott Haffar which went ricocheting into shallow left field. Pleschner and Kellen Strahm scored on the fortuitous play, but that would be all for the SJSU offense.
UC Riverside had the leadoff hitter on base in three of the first four innings. However, Spartans starter Andrew Mitchel managed to get out of trouble relatively unscathed. Mitchel allowed just two runs through the first five innings and racked up eight strikeouts. UC Riverside was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position after five complete innings.
"You're just playing with fire a little bit when you give teams leadoff runners and free bases," said Spartans' head coach Brad Sanfilippo. "Andrew is good enough to overcome that stuff, but you can't always have the leadoff runner on and put all the pressure on us."
That pressure eventually got to the Spartans in the top of the sixth inning. Mitchel induced a grounder by UCR's Matt Hardy to begin the frame, but the ball was booted by the shortstop Pleschner. Mitchel beaned the next batter and then was pulled after a sacrifice bunt put UCR runners on second and third with one out.
The next batter Justin Mannens made new reliever Mitchell Miller and the Spartans pay with a two-run double which put the Highlanders up 4-0. It was the first of three consecutive crooked numbers on the scoreboard for the Highlanders, including three runs in the seventh and four in the eighth to build an 11-0 lead.
Mitchel gave up three earned runs on five hits in 5.1 innings of work, and dropped to 0-1. Miller, Travis Sanders, Chandler Giles and Jackson Ertz combined to allow six earned runs in 3.2 innings out of the Spartans' bullpen.
"You're always just trying to figure out how to win a series and sometimes that comes down to Sunday. I'm glad to have this challenge where we come out tomorrow with the series on the line," said Sanfilippo.
First pitch of the rubber match between San José State and UC Riverside is schedule for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday at Municipal Stadium.
