ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – San Jose State baseball dropped their Mountain West opener 14-2 to New Mexico Friday at Santa Ana Star Field. The Spartans left 13 men on base and issued 12 walks in the loss.
Connor Konishi and Troy Viola led the Spartan bats with a pair of hits each. Viola had one of SJSU's two RBIs on a double in the eighth inning.
New Mexico (7-3, 1-0) used a seven-run third inning to take a 9-0 lead before James Shimashita broke up the shutout bid on a RBI single to plate Kellen Strahm in the sixth inning. Strahm's run was his Mountain West-leading 12th of the season.
Shimashita, who played three positions on the night, took the bump in the eighth inning and surrendered the game's final three runs for the 14-2 final score. Spartan starter Andrew Mitchel (1-2) was chased after just 2.2 innings in which he surrendered nine earned runs. He struck out five while issuing seven walks.
The Spartans (6-3, 0-1) finished with eight hits while the Lobos tallied 10.
New Mexico starting pitcher Justin Slaten picked up the win after allowing just one run and tallying nine strikeouts over 6.0 innings. Shortstop Hayden Schilling tallied five RBI on two hits including a triple. Ryan O'Farrell drove in three more runs.
Game two of the three-game series will begin at 1:00 pm. PT on Saturday.