After getting swept by Air Force last week, the SJSU baseball team split a four-game series against San Diego State in Berkeley on Sunday.
The Spartans (22-22, 15-11 MWC) defeated the Aztecs (20-24, 14-9 MWC) 7-2. The victory was led by a powerful pitching performance, holding the Aztecs to 7 hits and 10 strikeouts.
The series was initially set for five games this past weekend, but was cut to four after the second game of Friday’s double header got rained out.
The Spartans, who usually play at Excite Ballpark in San Jose, played Sunday’s contest at Stu Gordon Stadium in Berkeley due to a scheduling conflict with the San Jose Giants.
Senior right-handed pitcher Darren Jansen earned his third win of the season for the Spartans, giving up no runs on 2 hits with 5 strikeouts in four innings of relief pitching.
“We knew we had a full bullpen going into today,” Jansen said. “So when I got my name called, just going out there and attacking and my defense picked me up behind me and it was a good day to get the win.”
Jansen has a 5.52 ERA in 20 appearances with 33 strikeouts this season.
“When we can make plays and score some runs, put us up against anyone,” Jansen said.
Jansen ended the game retiring six of the last eight batters he faced
Junior third baseman Dalton Bowling hit his team-leading ninth home run in the sixth inning to break the 2-2 tie, giving the Spartans a 4-2 lead.
“The pitching staff kept us in the game there, so I came up to the plate with a runner on first and two outs and just got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on and went over the fence,” Bowling said.
Bowling leads the team with 42 RBIs this season and is batting one for three with a walk.
Bowling said the pitching staff was excellent.
“They kept us in the ball game the whole way and just let our offense do what we do and just to score runs and the pitching staff just kept us in the ball game,” Bowling said.
Junior shortstop Theo Hardy batted 2-for-5 with a home run of his own in the seventh inning and extended the Spartan’s lead to 6-2.
Hardy said the pitching staff did a great job all day.
“Darren went out there and just did a phenomenal job by just throwing strikes [and] getting ahead of guys putting them away and it was really fun to watch,” Hardy said.
Hardy is batting .333 on the season and is second in the team with 4 triples.
He said it was a fun moment to play in his hometown of Berkley in front of his friends and family.
“I grew up coming to these games and it was really fun to get to play on this field and have a good game,” Hardy said.
SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo said the team played well all around against SDSU in an SJSU Athletics Twitter video.
“Darren Jansen was lights out today, he was awesome,” Sanfilippo said. “Dalton Bowling gave us separation with a two run homer and offensively our team was able to add to that and give us a little bit of separation there.”
Sanfilippo said the offense stepped on the gas.
“Theo Hardy and Dalton Bowling, they did a great job,” Sanfilippo said. “They really did offensively and put together some really good at bats and those are big moments for us.”
SJSU is scheduled to face University of San Francisco at 1 p.m. today at Benedetti Diamond in San Francisco.
