The San José State baseball team gave up five runs in the top of the ninth inning and couldn’t recover from a 9-3 loss to San Diego State on Friday night at Excite Ballpark.
The Spartans (20-20, 8-10 MW) were within striking distance for most of the night, trailing 4-3 heading into the final frame.
While the Aztecs (14-26, 10-8 MW) extended the lead in the top of the ninth, capitalizing on a mix of timely hitting and defensive breakdowns that sealed the Spartans’ loss.
Head coach Brad Sanfilippo acknowledged his team’s resilience but pointed to missed chances as a key reason for the Spartans’ defeat.
“Obviously, we got some opportunities we didn’t cash in on,” Sanfilippo said. “You've got to take advantage of all those little things. You just gotta play a little cleaner baseball.”
The Aztecs grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the first inning after a dropped ball and a string of fielding miscues by the Spartans.
SJSU failed to answer in the bottom half of the same inning.
The Spartans responded in the bottom of the second with a run, bringing the score, 2-1.
The teams remained locked through the third and into the fourth, when San Diego State added a third run following another defensive fumble by the Spartans.
As the Spartans came up empty in the bottom of the fourth inning, both sides went scoreless through the fifth and sixth innings.
Despite the steady pitching, errors and stranded runners began to pile up for the Spartans.
Starting senior pitcher David Thomas worked six full innings, allowing only two earned runs on seven hits.
“They had a good approach with two strikes, so I just had to keep making pitches and find a way to help the team just limit their runs and limit the traffic on base,” Thomas said.
Thomas had to continue to adjust throughout the game to handle the Aztecs’ strength at the plate early in the game.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Spartans began to close the gap again when Jake McCoy came through with an RBI single, marking his 25th of the season.
That momentum helped carry the Spartans into the eighth inning, making it a one-run game.
Senior outfielder Zach Tallerman helped lead this late push with a 2-for-4 night at the plate, including an RBI single in the eighth.
The game marked his third multi-hit game of the season, reflecting on the loss Tallerman said consistency will be the key moving forward.
“My biggest takeaways were, I mean, three errors never going to win a game compared to zero errors,” Tallerman said. “Offensively, we haven’t been as dominant as we have been.”
Relief pitchers, junior EJ McGrew and graduate student Joey Cammarata were called upon in the final three innings but weren’t able to stop the Aztecs’ ninth-inning surge.
SDSU added five insurance runs to put the game out of the Spartans’ reach as their offense failed to answer in the bottom half of the ninth.
Infielder senior Alex Fernandes reached base three times, stole his 12th base of the season, and extended his hitting streak to nine games, standing out as one of the few bright spots in a game where the Spartans left eight runners on base.
Despite the loss, Tallerman expressed confidence in the team’s long-term focus, emphasizing that the ups and downs of the season haven’t shaken their morale.
“We’re a tough group. We’re a resilient group… like I just said in the huddle back there, don’t lose sight of the fact that we’re gonna be the 2025 Mountain West Champions,” Tallerman said.
Team chemistry was one of the Spartans’ strongest assets in Friday’s matchup, and as they continue to grow, to work toward a spot in the Mountain West Championships.
SJSU is scheduled to face the University of San Francisco on the road at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
