San Luis Obispo, Calif. – San José State used another explosive night at the plate and a dominant start from senior Spencer Long to roll to a 10-2 victory over Cal Poly on Friday evening in San Luis Obispo.
The win marked the Spartans (3-3) first victory away from home on the young season.
Making his second start of the season, Long (2-0) went seven scoreless innings on the mound for SJSU. The senior earned the victory, striking out three while scattering six hits and only issuing one walk.
Senior Santiago Cantu - who entered the contest in the fifth inning as a defensive replacement - led the visitors from San José at the plate with a pair of RBI and one run.
A five-run third inning paved the way on this night for head coach Brad Sanfilippo's club. Freshman Kai Saterstrom got the frame started with a single to the gap in right center, and Saterstrom would come around to score one batter later on an interference call after a double off the bat of senior Andrew Jurado.
The double was the first of four extra-base hits in the inning, an inning that saw sophomore Robert Hamchuk, first baseman Ruben Ibarra and senior Nelson Padilla all tally run-scoring hits.
Hamchuk, Ibarra and Jack Colette were all able to extend their hitting streaks to six games through the first six contests of the 2021 season.
Sophomore Dalton Bowling also impressed at the dish, going 2-for-3 with a run, double, walk and hit by pitch.
Now with plenty of run support, Long continued to cruise throughout the game's middle frames. The right-hander retired the side in order in the fifth and seventh innings and faced just one more than the minimum in the sixth.
San José State erased any doubt in the outcome with another multi-run frame in the seventh, adding three additional runs to its advantage.
The Spartans then extended their lead to 10-0 in the eighth when Jurado scored on a fielder's choice to short. This marks the first time since the 1990 campaign (13-3 vs. Cal Poly, 16-1 at Cal State East Bay, 12-1 vs. Cal State LA) that SJSU has scored 10+ runs in three of its first six games to start a season.
Seeing his first action since March of 2019, senior Josh Zanger was impressive in relief on Friday night. Zanger threw 1.1 scoreless innings to wrap up the contest, striking out one in the process.
San José State will now look to secure its first series win of the season in Saturday's rubber match. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. at Baggett Stadium.