Spartans Drop Rubber Match To AztecsSpartans Drop Rubber Match To Aztecs

Spartans Drop Rubber Match To Aztecs

San José, Calif. – San José State competed well early before first-place San Diego State pulled away late in Sunday's series finale at Excite Ballpark. 

First baseman Ruben Ibarra homered in the bottom half of the fourth frame to even the score at 1-1 but the Aztecs (13-6, 9-4 MW) would ultimately take the rubber match, 14-4. The contest was called after eight innings on account of the conference's new 10-run rule (in place for the 2021 season only). 


 
Sophomore Robert Hamchuk and senior Ruben Mercado both tallied multi-hit games for the Spartans (1-2, 1-2). Mercado ended the day with one RBI while Hamchuk scored a run himself. 
 
SJSU put together a little rally in the seventh, plating a trio of runs to pull within 9-4. 

Hamchuk got the inning started by reaching base on a hit by pitch and he would come around to score two batters later on a Kai Saterstrom RBI double into right field. The RBI marked Saterstrom's first career hit and came off of his high school teammate that was on the mound for the visitors from San Diego. 
 
Saterstrom scored later in the frame on a wild pitch to make the score 9-3, and it was Mercado who drove in the team's final run of the afternoon with an RBI single to center. 

Oregon transfer Keaton Chase got the start on the mound and went 4.2 innings in his Spartan debut.

Despite facing a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the top of the fourth, Chase was able to keep his team in the game with one of his best three-batter stretches of the afternoon. The right-hander got the first out of the inning with an infield fly to the third baseman, then tallied his first strikeout of the day against the next Aztec batter. 

Finally, Chase induced a fly ball to center that would strand a trio of San Diego State baserunners. That kept the deficit at just one run, setting the stage for Ibarra's tying home run in the bottom half of the frame. 



San José State will look to get back to .500 when it welcomes California to Excite Ballpark on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. against the Pac-12 foe.