By Sofia Wright—Content Editor
San Jose State baseball is not only experiencing growing pains, but have them on full display.
The Spartans (0-4) dropped their four-game series against down-the-street rival Santa Clara (4-0) over the weekend.
On Saturday, the Spartans started strong but fell 2-1, which was followed by a forgettable 13-2 game to end the day. Despite only three combined runs, SJSU had plenty of offensive opportunities, namely 16 combined hits, but stranded a combined 19 on base.
The Spartans fell Sunday 18-4 in Santa Clara. The team tallied four hits on the afternoon, which were all doubles. The Broncos finished with 22 hits, which included four triples and three homers.
“We’re still trying to find ourselves,” said freshman Robert Hamchuk. “It’s a grind to win college baseball games, it’s not easy and we’re keeping our heads high looking forward to the future.”
The team is full of newcomers who are still adjusting. There are 19 new active players, and 10 of them are pitchers.
Junior Kevin Kyle is one of those new pitchers. He started the first game on Saturday and was charged with the loss. He completed 6.1 innings with just four hits against and two walks while striking out three.
“Kevin Kyle was a number one starter at one of the best junior colleges in the state of California, Delta Junior College,” said head coach Brad Sanfilippo. “He’s had a ton of success and he’s just super competitive, so we really are going to rely on him.”
The second Saturday game saw a dramatic turn from the previous style of play as Santa Clara scored early and often beginning with back-to-back homers in the first.
SJSU finally got on the board in the eighth as pinch hitter sophomore Ryan Belluomini knocked out his first career home run, which was a two-run shot. That was the team’s lone scoring play despite finishing with 11 hits.
Freshman lefty Trevor Ernt started on the mound for the Spartans and was charged with the loss after just 1.2 innings. Dom Eberle, Anders Davidson and Ben Polack also hit the mound in relief. Polack had an efficient final three innings with five strikeouts and only two hits allowed.
The final game on Sunday saw SJSU starting pitcher Trevor Allen hit to mound. A true freshman from Los Gatos, the game was his first collegiate appearance. The freshman was charged with the loss. Pitchers Sean Prozell, Corey Sanchez and Nicholas Morales all saw the mound in relief duty.
“Going into last year we had the Mountain West Pitcher of the Year coming back,” Sanfilippo said. “Going into the year … we knew what we could count on and right now we’re really trying to figure that out.”
The Spartans look to “figure it out” in a three-game series against Creighton. SJSU hosts the series at Excite Ballpark, which starts Friday at 6 p.m.
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