By Ryan Vermont
The Shane Timmons show made its latest stop in Las Vegas Thursday evening.
San Jose State’s first baseman was responsible for driving in 4 of the Spartans 7 runs en route to a 7-4 win over UNLV. The junior hit two triples in the first and eighth innings, both of which would likely have been home runs in a different ball park, along with a double in the sixth.
The visiting Spartans got on the board first after right fielder Chris Williams got on base and made his way all the way around the infield on Timmons’ first three-bagger.
After going scoreless through the first three innings, the Rebels tied the game up in the fourth as designated hitter Ernie De La Trinidad scored on an infield single. De La Trinidad then gave UNLV the lead with his bat in the next inning, a single into right field, giving his team a 2-1 lead.
SJSU has struggled all season getting back into games after giving up a lead — Timmons refused to let that be the case tonight.
His outfield-splitting double in the sixth inning drove in DH Josh Nashed knotting the game at 2 runs apiece.
The next batter, catcher Joe Stefanki, put the Spartans back on top with his single up the middle that scored Timmons.
In the seventh inning, third baseman Cooper Esmay jacked a two-run home run putting UNLV on top again.
Timmons came up again in the eighth inning and drove in his final two RBI’s on his second triple, a shot that bounced high off the left-centerfield wall. At that point, it was 5-4 in favor of SJSU.
The Spartans added a couple insurance runs, one in the eighth and one in the ninth, locking up the victory.
Matt Brown kept UNLV in check in his 4.1 innings of work allowing just 2 runs and a hit. The pitching staff as a whole gave up three hits combined.
Before this evening’s victory, the Spartans had not won consecutive games in over a month. While it’s likely too little too late for a chance at the 4th-seed and a postseason berth, finishing the season strong will do a lot for the team heading into the offseason.
Tomorrow’s game, the second to last of the regular season, is set to start at 6:05 p.m.