STANFORD, Calif. – San Jose State baseball's hot start against Stanford was spoiled as the No. 2 Cardinal belted five home runs in a 15-7 win in a Tuesday night non-conference contest at Sunken Diamond.
The Spartans struck first in the top of the first as Blake Berry tallied his 10th double of the season to right field that just barely got past the right fielder's outstretched glove. Aaron Pleschner came home from second for the game's first run.
Stanford tied the game in the second with a sacrifice fly and took advantage of a fielding error and two walks to load the bases. Spartans starting pitcher Ben Polack was able to close the door on any further damage in the inning however as an induced groundout to second ended the threat and left the bases loaded.
Troy Viola gave the Spartans the lead again in the top of the third as he blasted a two-out home run to left field to give SJSU a 4-1 advantage. The knock was Viola's second of the season and the team's eighth of the year.
The lead was short-lived however as Stanford used two home runs and two doubles to take a 6-4 lead. Andrew Daschbach cranked the equalizer with a three-run shot to left-center and Nick Brueser gave the Cardinal the lead outright with a deep solo homer to left. Back-to-back doubles led to another run as Stanford put up five total in the inning in the frame.
Stanford (28-6, 13-2) tacked on four more runs on two home runs in the fourth to take a 10-4 lead. SJSU responded in the top of the fifth, however as Pleschner laced a lead-off double and came across on a sacrifice fly by James Shimashita to cut the deficit to 10-5.
Pleschner finished with three hits for his eighth multi-hit effort of the season.
A fielding error in center on a deep fly by Santiago Cantu allowed one more Spartan run to come across in the sixth. SJSU then tacked on their seventh run on a RBI single by Ryan Belluomini in the eighth.
The Spartans hit the ball well all game long, finishing with 12 knocks. Stanford tallied 16 hits of their own led by Maverick Handley, who finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and a RBI.
Stanford added insurance in the eighth as the Cardinal tallied the fifth homer of the night, this one a two-run shot by Duke Kinamon to increase the lead to 15-7.
Polack (1-4) was charged with the loss while Alex Williams (4-1) picked up the win.With the loss, SJSU drops to 18-23, 12-9 heading into a three-game nonconference series against Nicholls State in Thibodaux, Louisiana Friday through Sunday.
