SAN FRANCISCO – San Jose State baseball scored five runs in the first inning of their non-conference midweek game at San Francisco, but allowed 10 runs to come across in the eighth inning as the University of San Francisco fought back for a 12-6 victory Tuesday at Benedetti Diamond.
The Spartans (7-5) looked to be in business after their five-run first inning. Troy Viola was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded followed by three-straight RBI singles off the bats of James Shimashita, Blake Berry and Nico Malbrough. Ryan Belluomini plated the final run of the inning on a sacrifice groundout to give the Spartans the 5-0 advantage, however that would be the last run scored by SJSU until the ninth inning at which point the game was in control.
SJSU starter Nicholas Morales was solid on the mound, pitching 2.0 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts and walks issued. Chandler Giles took the bump in relief in the third inning and surrendered the Dons' first two runs on a 2-RBI double.
In the eighth inning, Zach Wallace was lifted after putting two runners on and was replaced by Anders Davidson. Davidson gave up two runs and was quickly pulled for Connor Konishi, who took the mound from his starting position in right field. Konishi allowed six runs on four hits, including a three-run homerun with two outs to break the game open, however none of the runs were earned due to a pair of Spartan errors in the sequence.
Kellen Strahm plated the game's final run on a RBI single in the ninth, but that was all as the Spartans dropped the contest. SJSU finished with 10 hits and left seven on base.
Davidson (0-1) was charged with the loss while San Francisco reliever Julian Washburn (3-0) picked up the win.
Shimashita, Berry and Malbrough each finished with two hits to lead the Spartans.
SJSU returns to Municipal Stadium on Friday to begin a three-game Mountain West series with Air Force beginning at 6:00 p.m. PT.
