OMAHA – San José State competed all afternoon on the road against a Big East opponent before Creighton ultimately pulled away for a 5-0 victory in Saturday's series opener at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha.
The Spartan (3-6) offense did break through for four hits but struggled to completely shake off the 11-day layoff that saw six games canceled due to COVID-19 issues inside multiple other programs. In a stroke of good fortune for SJSU, the program was able to add this three-game series with the Bluejays (10-7) at the home of the College World Series.
all smiles inside @tdameritradeprk #SpartanUp pic.twitter.com/X8i40Clegg
— San José State Baseball (@SanJoseStateBSB) April 17, 2021
San José State starter Jonathan Clark enjoyed one of the best performances of his collegiate career in the tough-luck loss, striking out 11 while allowing just one earned run on three hits in six innings of work.
Clark put together back-to-back fantastic frames in the fourth and fifth, first stranding a pair of runners in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom half of the fourth. The right-hander then returned to the mound an inning later and struck out the side with each opposing batter going down looking.
the kiss and the flex ??@jon_clark05 strikes out the side and has nine - count 'em, nine - strikeouts on the afternoon. pic.twitter.com/XPVJw0aEPX
— San José State Baseball (@SanJoseStateBSB) April 17, 2021
The junior's 11 strikeouts marked the program's most in a single game since Apr. 5, 2019 (Andrew Mitchel, 11 vs. New Mexico). In addition, the 11 marked the program's most strikeouts against a power conference opponent since Apr. 16, 2015 (Turtle Kuhaulua, 11 vs. Washington State).
Upperclassmen Ruben Ibarra, Connor Konishi, Andrew Jurado and Ruben Mercado each tallied hits for the Spartans on Saturday. Jurado and Konishi now own the team's longest current hit streaks at three games a piece.
Senior Josh Zanger was the team's only other pitcher to toe the rubber, allowing three runs in two innings of work.
San José State will look to bounce back in game two on Sunday afternoon at TD Ameritrade. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. (CT) against the Big East foe.