By Ernie Gonzalez:
It was a trip to forget for San Jose State as it traveled to and from Hawaii stuck on nine wins.
It was the Spartans’ first four-game series of the year, but their second four-game skid so far (now on a five-game losing streak).
The three-hour time difference seemed to distract the Spartans early on in the series, beginning Thursday. Jake Swiech took the hill and was rocked early, giving up three earned runs in 3⅔ innings of work. The Spartans barked back, but gave up three in the seventh, resulting in a 6-2 loss.
The Spartan bats showed up in Game 2, knocking in 5 runs in the first 3 innings, only to give up 4 in the fourth. Trailing 8-5 late, SJSU rallied, but came up inches short when the tying run was gunned down at the plate for the final out. Spartans lost, 8-7.
Matt Brown got the call Saturday, but had problems with his command, an issue he’s had all year. Brown currently sits atop the the staff in the negative categories: hits (31), walks (25), earned runs (22), hit batters (8) and wild pitches (4).
Brown made it through six innings, gave up four runs and walked six, but did enough to keep the Spartans close. Down three in the ninth, the SJ again made things interesting, but fell 5-4.
The final game of the weekend was the exclamation point — for the ‘Bows at least. Hawaii came out swinging, and the Spartans had no answer.
Five times this season the SJSU has given up 10 or more runs. Also five times this year, the Spartans have been limited to just 1 run.
In Games 1 through 3, SJSU combined for just 14 runs. That is how much they gave up to the ‘Bows on Sunday, looking like boys amongst men, and man-slaughtered, 14-1.
SJSU was outscored 33-14 in the four games against the Rainbow Warriors, as the Spartans are now 0-11 away from home and have dropped five in a row.
First baseman and outfielder Adam Fogel had a phenomenal series against the Spartans, hitting his first home run of his college career Sunday, going 9/12 in the series with 8 RBIs, two three-hit games and even a stolen base.
Question marks continue to surround the Spartan pitching staff as SJSU is seemingly always fighting back from behind. The majority of the reason comes from giving up runs early in games.
In three of the four games against the ‘Bows, the Spartans allowed a run in the first inning, and are 1-6 on the year when that happens.
When that occurs, it puts extra pressure on a bullpen, one that isn’t suited to last multiple innings. The Spartans bullpen is set-up-based, and when head coach Jason Hawkins needs to wrist-tap one of them earlier than halfway through a contest, the Spartans are in trouble.
The monkey is still hanging on Spartans shoulders as they are in desperate need for that first road win.
The team will return to action Wednesday at home against Santa Clara in hopes of ending a five-game-losing streak before getting another crack at a road win Friday against the San Diego State Aztecs.
Wednesday’s game is set to start at 7 p.m.