By Sandeep Chandok
It was San Jose State that got hot early and Nevada that got hot late — fortunately for the Spartans, the early fire power was enough to hold off the Wolf Pack’s late push.
A 7-6 win went in favor of SJSU (8-9, 4-4 MW) that was backed by junior righthanded pitcher Matt Brown who went five-plus innings and gave up a lowly two earned runs.
“He was effectively wild,” said assistant coach Dean Stiles. “Didn’t have as a great a command as he had in his last outing but he did just enough to keep us in it.”
Brown made some mistakes, however, walking six batters on the night and loading the bases twice. In the first go-around, there were no outs but Brown walked away with no damage done.
An inning later in the sixth, it was the same situation for Brown but this time, he didn’t get the chance for another heroic escape as he was pulled for another righty, junior Cameron Keup.
Keup allowed one Nevada (5-14, 2-6 MW) run to go up on the board but a Spartans’ double play helped their reliever depart with just a slight bruise.
“That’s huge for the bullpen to come out and throw up a good one there [with] bases loaded and no outs,” Brown said.
More scoring followed in the sixth, this time for SJSU, as it tacked on two insurance runs to extend its lead to five.
The Wolf Pack didn’t go down quietly as they rallied four runs in the ninth off Spartan junior Josh Goldberg, another right-hander, before a final righty, junior Hilario Tovar, sealed the series win for SJSU.
Senior catcher Jack Veasey provided the early spark for the Spartans with a two-run double in a five-run first inning which ultimately outlasted Nevada’s last-minute outpour.
“Just trying to stick to my approach,” Veasey said of his big hit. “Just trying to make good contact and hope for the best.”
For SJSU, “the best” would be completing the sweep tomorrow in the series finale at 1 p.m. in Municipal Stadium.