May 6, 2017
SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Diego State had to come from behind twice as it rallied to defeat San Jose State, 8-4, Friday night at Municipal Stadium in San Jose. The win was the fourth in four games against the Spartans for SDSU this season as it improved to 32-15 overall and 15-7 in the Mountain West.
San Jose State (15-28-1, 8-15-1 MW) took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third as it put three runs on the board in that inning. Those came on a two doubles and two singles against Aztec starting pitcher Brett Seeburger.
The Aztecs, meanwhile, found themselves without a hit over the first four frames as SJSU starting pitcher Matt Brown kept the SDSU offense in check. But the Aztecs did manage to tie the game on only one hit with three runs in the top of the fifth.
Brown would run into control problems in that inning as he hit David Hensley and walked Jordan Verdon, both of whom moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by Ryan Orr. Julian Escobedo walked to load the bases before Chase Calabuig was hit by pitch with two outs to bring home the first run. Danny Sheehan then singled up the middle to drive home two more runs and tie the game at 3-3.
The contest was only tied briefly, however, as Spartan first baseman Shane Timmons hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to restore the home team's lead at 4-3.
San Diego State would re-take the advantage in its next at bat as it scored three times on a walk and four hits to go up 6-3. The Aztecs got two RBI from Alan Trejo and one by Ryan Orr as it made a loser of SJSU reliever Zach Tanner (0-2), who had come on to start the inning in relief of Brown.
The Aztec rally would allow Seeburger to claim the victory as he improved to 9-1 on the year. The senior lefty went 6.2 innings allowing the four runs on nine hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Junior Jorge Fernandez would toss the final 2.1 innings surrendering a pair of singles with no walks and five strikeouts. He would be credited with his second save of the year.
The Aztecs added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth on a RBI single by Tyler Adkison and a run-scoring double by Hensley.
Sheehan (2 RBI, run scored) was the lone Aztec to record more than one hit in the game as he extended his current hitting streak to 12 games. Trejo finished with two RBI while Hensley and Verdon scored two runs each.
San Diego State and San Jose State will continue their three-game series on Saturday (May 6) with a contest scheduled to get underway at 4:00 p.m. in San Jose.