MORAGA, Calif. — In their third meeting of the season, the Saint Mary's Gaels (26-16) defeated the San Jose State Spartans (18-25), earning the season series victory by taking two of three against their Silicon Valley foes. The Gaels jumped out to an early lead, and weathered a storm in the middle third of the game in the form of a Spartans rally, eventually retaking momentum, earning the 6-4 victory.
Preston Howey drew the start on the hill, the first of his career, and looked back to the form he was in in the early part of the season. The senior tossed three innings full, surrendering just one hit and fanning three. He did walk three batters, but he was able to strand all four runners he surrendered on the basepaths. David Thomas would be the next man up, surrendering three runs, in an inning plus, before handing the ball to Owen Cuffe, who stopped the bleeding to keep the Gaels ahead by one run. Adam Enyart pitched a scoreless sixth, but surrendered the tying run on a groundout with a runner on third in the seventh. The Gaels would rally in the bottom half, regaining the lead and putting Enyart in position for the win. Freshman Justin Santiago closed out the game with two scoreless frames to notch his first collegiate save.
The jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, with the momentum captured in the bottom of the first, when leadoff man Dalton Mashore hammered the first offering from San Jose State starter Tyler Albanese over the left field fence. In the second, Connor "Bear" Harrison dropped a one out single into center, breaking an 0-17 stretch, and Nathan Chong doubled to put two in scoring position for Chris Esquivel, who lined out to center, giving plenty of time for Harrison to come in and double the lead for the Gaels. In the third, Mashore was plunked by a pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a Christian Almanza sac fly to center, followed up by a Ryan Pierce solo shot to build the early lead.
The middle third of the game belonged to the Spartans, plating three runs off of Thomas before Cuffe was able to curtail the rally. Enyart worked the lone 1-2-3 inning of the game in the sixth, but surrendered a leadoff double in the seventh that would come around to score, as the Spartans climbed the mountain to tie things up at four apiece.
The Gaels would quickly regain the lead and momentum post stretch, as with one out, Coleman Schmidt singled up the middle, Christian Almanza walked and Ryan Pierce laced an infield single off the glove of the Spartan third baseman to load the bases for Brian Duroff. Duroff drew a bases loaded walk to push the Gaels back in front. An insurance run came across in the eighth in the Gaels, when Hayden Driggs walked, Chris Esquivel laced a single to center, and the two were sacrificed to second and third courtesy of a Cody Kashimoto bunt. Driggs would then come around to score on a balk, bringing the score to 6-4. Santiago slammed the door shut as the Gaels ended their brief two game losing streak.
Ryan Pierce and Bear Harrison each logged two hit games, with Pierce logging a solo home run and Harrison logging a double. Dalton Mashore also blasted a home run, while Nathan Chong joined his fellow catcher Harrison with a double. Mashore also swiped a pair of bases in the contest, but was caught stealing attempting to take home.
The Gaels will be back in action tomorrow, taking on the Nevada Wolf Pack in Reno. First pitch is set for 3 PM.
Saint Mary's full schedule can be viewed here and season tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
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