By Sara Biela (@sarabielaa ):
After dramatic lead changes in the eighth and ninth innings, San Jose State baseball came up short, losing 6-5 to University of Northern Colorado.
The Spartans (2-2) were down 4-3 for three straight innings, but in the eighth, SJSU plated two unearned runs to take a 5-4 lead.
Pittman opened the inning being hit by a pitch and later scored on an error from UNC’s junior shortstop Tyler Yamaguchi.
Morrison put the Spartans ahead with an RBI single scoring junior shortstop Aaron Pleschner.
“It’s all about the team,” Morrison said after the loss. “I’m just trying to keep doing what I’m doing to help the team out.”
Sophomore and junior pitchers Josh Zanger and Andrew Mitchel highlighted the bullpen, combining for 3.1 shutout innings to keep the Spartans in the game.
“I tried to stay on our own team and stay within ourselves,” said Mitchel. “We made a few mistakes and need to learn from it and move on to use them in our next outing.”
The Spartans were one out away from taking 3 of 4 games in the series, but the Bears (2-2) scored two runs in the top of the ninth to take the 6-5 lead.
Freshman pitcher Wesley Clawson gave up a two-RBI game-winning single to UNC’s junior right fielder Jack Pauley.
“We didn’t shut it down right there,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “It didn’t go our way.”
SJSU had the tying run on first base with one out in the bottom half of the ninth, but strikeouts from senior third baseman David Campbell and junior second baseman Sawyer Pittman gave UNC a split in the four-game series.
“We learned a lot,” left field senior Kyle Morrison said. “It’s early in the season and it’s good for us to get in close game situations.”
Up next for the Spartans, they’ll host the Santa Clara Broncos (1-2) Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m