MORAGA, Calif. – San Jose State baseball dropped a midweek nonconference contest at Saint Mary's on Tuesday, surrendering two late runs in the eighth inning as The Gaels held on for a 4-2 win.
Tied at 2-2 entering the bottom of the eighth, Saint Mary's (4-7) broke the tie with a RBI single and tacked on one more on a sacrifice fly. Spartan reliever Nicholas Morales was able to get out of the inning to leave two runners stranded and limit the damage, but the enough was done for the Gaels to cruise through the ninth and pick up the win.
The Spartans outhit Saint Mary's 8-7 with Johnny Mendoza leading the way with a 2-hit night. Dalton Bowling's RBI double in the fourth plated the first SJSU run of the evening and Robert Hamchuk followed with a RBI single of his own to plate the second run.
Ben Polack got the starting nod for the Spartans and worked 2.1 innings with four hits against and two runs, both earned while tallying three strikeouts. He was relieved in the third by Dom Eberle. He paired with fellow relievers Wesley Clawson and Morales for a fantastic effort from the Spartan bullpen with just three hits combined between the trio. Clawson was charged with the loss with his lone earned run being the tiebreaker.
With the loss the Spartans drop to 5-8. They will look to get back on track this weekend as they host Loyola-Marymount for a three-game series beginning on Friday.
