SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose State baseball was unable to avoid the series sweep as they fell to Loyola Marymount, 7-2, in the Sunday's finale at Excite Ballpark.
The Spartans dropped to 5-11 while LMU improved to 8-8.
SJSU continued to see the ball well enough to put runners aboard, but also continued to struggle bringing those runners home. For the third-straight game, the Spartans left 10-plus runners on base (12).
The Spartan offense was led by Ruben Mercado's three-hit afternoon, the first of his SJSU career. The Pleasanton, product finished 3-for-4 at the plate. Ruben Ibarra tacked on a pair of hits of his own as the duo combined for five of the Spartans' eight total hits.
LMU put up seven runs on 13 hits led by Matt Voekler and Alex Lambeau, who each finished with three hits. The Lions scored at least one run in all but three innings to put the pressure on SJSU, which was unable to answer.
The Spartans tied the game in the bottom of the ninth as Robert Hamchuk laced a RBI single to plate Jack Colette. They also scored in the third as James Shimashita scooted home on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, that was all the scoring for the day as they were held in check for the remaining six innings.
Sean Prozell (1-1) was charged with the loss. He worked three innings with three hits surrendered, three runs against and walked five batters. Wesley Clawson relieved him to start the fourth and was chased after 2.2 innings. Jonathan Wiltfang and Corey Sanchez also saw time on the bump in relief duty.
Lions' starter Sean Paquet (1-1) picked up the win after 5.0 innings of work. Reliever Holden Christian got credited for the save after three solid innings to close the contest.
The Spartans will look to break their five-game losing skid on Tuesday as they travel to Berkeley to take on Pac-12 foe Cal.
