Fresno, Calif. – The San José State Spartans broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh with a run off some two-out lightening and took its 2019 Mountain West opener 3-2 over the Fresno State Bulldogs on Friday night.
With two gone in the seventh, Alyssa Avila (2-for-3, 2B) doubled down the left field line and was lifted for pinch runner Carley Morfey. Makayla Englestad and Arianna Miranda then walked to load the bases. Cassidy Clark was hit on a 2-0 pitch to push what turned out to be the winning run across.
In the bottom of the frame, Jenessa Ullegue set Fresno down in order to earn the win. She pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit relief with one strikeout, improves to 9-2 on the season and has won five consecutive decisions. The victory improves San José State's (21-9, 1-0 MW) current win-streak to 11 games.
"I thought we played as good a game tonight as we have all season," head coach Peter Turner said. "It was well played on both sides, but I am particularly happy that when we had the opportunity to score late we took advantage of the situation and pushed that last run across."
The Spartans got off to a quick start against the Bulldogs, who lost for the first time this season on their home field.
Englestad (0-for-2, 2BB) walked to lead off the game, and after Miranda (2-for-3, R, 2B, BB) doubled over the centerfielder's head, moved to third and into scoring position. Clark (1-for-2, 2RBI) then poked a single into right to score Englestad and stake the Spartans to a 1-0 lead. With Miranda on third and Clark on first, Madison Aurin (1-for-3, RBI, SF) lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center which plated Miranda and made it 2-0.
The Spartans had runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but could only convert them into runs in the first.
Fresno State (15-10, 0-4 MW) got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. With its second hit of the game, a triple down the right field line, they were able to plate a run on a sacrifice fly to cut the Spartans lead in half, 2-1.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Bulldogs got another leadoff triple. On a hit to the gap in left center Kaelin Amrein dove to rob Fresno of a hit. The ball went just under Amrein's glove and rolled to the fence and two batters later, with the runner on third, a single up the middle tied the game 2-2.
A one-out double in the bottom of the sixth spelled the end of the day for starter Caroline Bowman. She made way for Ullegue, who got flyout to center and then Avila picked off the runner at second. With the baserunner wandering two far from the bag at second, Avila threw behind the runner to Clark who applied the tag and ended the inning.
Bowman went 5.1 innings, gave up two runs on five hits, struck out three and didn't walk a batter.
"I thought Bow(man) threw really well tonight," said Turner. "It was a tough decision to bring in (Ullegue) because Bow had really good stuff all night. But it was the fourth time through the lineup and I just thought if Jenessa could finish the game without showing to much she would be ready for the rest of the series and she did that for us."
The series continues on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 p.m., and concludes on Sunday with a 12:00 p.m. start time.
