San José, Calif. – San José State found its offensive groove again on Tuesday night, totaling eight runs on nine hits in a 9-8 loss to San Francisco.
This marks the ninth time this season that the Spartans have scored seven or more runs in a game. Tuesday's meeting marked the second of two non-conference meetings between SJSU and the Dons on the 2021 campaign.
It also marked the return to Excite Ballpark after the longest road trip in program history, a 14-game odyssey that saw the club face six different teams in three different states.
San José State first baseman Ruben Ibarra enjoyed another tremendous evening at the plate, totaling two RBI while scoring one run himself. Ibarra smashed his 12th home run of the season and his 11th in his last 19 games in the seventh inning, sending the first pitch he saw over the wall in left center and deep into the San José night.
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— San José State Baseball (@SanJoseStateBSB) May 19, 2021
home run number 1?2? on the year for @salty_rube! pic.twitter.com/nYz0eYehPF
Ibarra is now the conference's sole leader in home runs for the 2021 season and is tied for sixth on the Spartan single-season list with John Fagan (2001), Kraig Constantino (1992) and Steve Ochoa (1986).
Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the third, SJSU hit the comeback trail with a trio of runs in its third trip to the plate. It was Ibarra and a pair of freshmen - Jackson Forbes and Kai Saterstrom - who tallied the team's three RBI in the inning that pulled the hosts to within a run.
hitting the comeback trail hard! @salty_rube plates our third run of the inning with this sac fly ?? pic.twitter.com/HDcL8zxgug
— San José State Baseball (@SanJoseStateBSB) May 19, 2021
San José State would trail 8-3 and 9-6 before rallying twice more on the evening.
Max Flower notched his first RBI of the season with a productive groundout in the sixth and catcher Taylor Justus continued his hot run of play with a two-RBI base knock in the eighth that pulled his team to within a run at 9-8.
Representing the tying run, Ibarra led off the bottom half of the ninth and reached safely with a single but the Spartans were unable to bring the league's hottest hitter around to score and extend the game.
Five pitchers toed the rubber for SJSU on Tuesday. Senior Wesley Clawson made his third start of the season and struck out one in three innings of work while Ben Polack, Max Flower and Darren Jansen all impressed in relief, combining to throw five innings while allowing just one run.
San José State returns to conference play for its final home series of the season this weekend at Excite Ballpark. The three-game set will get underway with a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.