SAN JOSE, Calif. – For the second consecutive day, San Jose State baseball erased a big early deficit, but was unable to complete the comeback against Fresno State as the Bulldogs clinched the series with a 7-5 win Friday night at Excite Ballpark.
The teams are now tied at the top of the conference standings with Saturday's finale looming. The game three winner will be the outright leader in the Mountain West.
Similar to the series opener, Fresno State (23-12, 10-6) jumped out to a five run lead, only needing one inning to do so today. The Bulldogs plated their first run on a RBI single and added three more off a deep home run to left-center by Nolan Dempsey.
SJSU (18-21, 12-8) responded right away as they put up a four spot in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back RBI singles by James Shimashita and Troy Viola brought in the first two runs before Nick Knecht blasted a two-run double down the right field line to cut the deficit to 5-4.
Fresno State added another run in the third and tacked on their final run in the fourth as Dempsey double dipped for his second round-tripper of the evening giving the Bulldogs a 7-4 advantage. Brandon Peterson cut into that lead in the home half of the fourth with a RBI single, but that was all the scoring for the remainder of the night.
Spartans' starter Tevin Cadola was charged with his first loss of the season to drop to 5-1 after 4.1 innings of work. The senior scattered eight hits and was responsible for all seven runs while striking out four. Justin Watland relieved Cadola with one out in the fifth and was outstanding in his 4.1 innings of relief. The senior surrendered just one hit in his time on the bump and got the Spartans out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth as he struck out Dempsey, who already had two home runs on the night, to slam the door shut in the inning.
The Spartan pitching unit stranded 13 Bulldog runners on base. SJSU edged Fresno State in hits 10-9. Troy Viola had his second-straight multi-hit game of the series as he paced the team with three hits and two runs scored.
Zach Presno, who was held hitless in game one with four strikeouts, responded with a monster game tallying three doubles and two RBI in a 4-for-5 evening to lead the Bulldogs. Starting pitcher Davis Moore (6-0) picked up the win while Jamie Arias tallied save No. 9 on the season.
The series finale begins tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. PT at Excite Ballpark.