SAN JOSE, Calif. – Saint Mary's ended a three-game skid and got some of their mojo back with a 13-run performance to complete the season sweep of San Jose State. Freshman
Sean Cannon made his first collegiate start and was stellar for the Gaels, completing a career high four innings allowing just one run off four hits.
Ryan Pierce stole the headlines offensively for the Gaels with two home runs including a three-run shot in the eighth that gave Saint Mary's an eight-run lead. Pierce would record his second multi-home run game of the season and the fourth of his career. Six other Gaels recorded hits in the game including RBI singles from
Aiden Taurek and
Jared Mettam.
Noah Waldeck would get credit for his first win of the season after replacing Cannon and completing the fifth inning.
HOW IT HAPPENED…
1ST INNING
The game started off with a big swing from junior power hitter
Eddie Madrigal who doubled off the right field wall on the third pitch of the game. Head coach
Eric Valenzuela sprinkled in three freshmen in the starting batting order and also moved Madrigal to the leadoff spot to get better pitches and it paid off in the game's opening at-bat.
Micah Nicholson would move Madrigal over to third with a sacrifice bunt before
Aiden Taurek grounded a ball to third to score Madrigal and put the Gaels up 1-0. After struggling to score in their weekend series against San Diego, there was a clear plan to take bases and move runners over when possible and it resulted in an early lead for Saint Mary's.
Sean Cannon had made four appearances on the season and completed just 4.1 innings heading into Tuesday's start but managed to double his innings total with four innings of work allowing just one run off four hits. He would depart after the fourth helping give his team a 3-1 lead for a career outing.
The Gaels added two more runs in the fourth thanks to a no-doubter from
Ryan Pierce for his sixth of the season and an infield single from
Jared Mettam that scored
Makoa Sniffen from third.
5TH INNNING
The Gaels would tack on four more runs in the fifth and take a 7-1 lead, but do so without recording a single hit. San Jose State would walk four batters, hit one and go through two pitchers in the inning as they struggled to find the strike zone.
After another sacrifice bunt from Nicholson to put runners on second and third, Taurek would work a walk to load the bases with one out. Pierce would come to the dish and send a fly ball to left for his second RBI of the night, scoring the speedy
Tanner Griffith from third. A walk to Sniffen would load the bases for the second time in the inning and then a wild pitch would allow Madrigal to trot home for the second run of the inning.
Diego Castellanos would then work a walk and load the bases for the third time, bringing up shortstop
Jared Mettam. Mettam would bounce the 0-1 pitch back to the pitcher but he would rifle the throw into the baseline and catch a piece of Mettam as he was running to first. Mettam would wind up safe and two runs would come in to score on the error and cap off the four-run inning.
8TH INNING
Walks would plague the Spartans again in the eighth but this time, the Gaels would add a couple of big hits to add five more runs and give them their largest lead of the game. A leadoff single, a walk and a hit batter would load the bases once again. Nicholson would sky a ball to shallow right field but
Ian Armstrong was able to beat the throw home, giving Nicholson his seventh RBI of the season.
Another walk would load the bases and force a pitching change from San Jose State's skipper. Back-to-back wild pitches would plate two more runs after the pitching change and then
Ryan Pierce would put the nail in the coffin with a three-run blast to the deepest part of the ballpark, giving Saint Mary's a 13-5 lead. Pierce belted the 2-0 pitch to right center for his seventh home run and second multi-homer game of the season.
Garret Plata would make his team leading 15th appearance of the season and record four strikeouts over the final two innings to seal the victory.
Noah Waldeck received credit for his first win as a Gael while
Adam Enyart and
Talin Gardini helped complete the sixth and seventh inning.
BY THE NUMBERS
Cannon had a career day with four innings of work, allowing just one run off four hits.
Ryan Pierce went 2-for-4 with two home runs, a game high four RBI and two runs scored to lead the Gaels offensively. Taurek was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI, bringing his season total to 19.
Tanner Griffith was also solid out of the nine-spot, recording a hit, two walks, scoring two runs and swiping his 12th bag of the season to lead the team.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's got back in the win column and improved to 16-19 overall, sweeping their regular season series with the Spartans. They will return to Moraga to get some rest and pack before flying down to Southern California for a three-game set with Pepperdine starting on Thursday, April 17th. Stream the entire series live on ESPN+ and get your tickets online at smcgaels.com.
Be sure to follow your Gaels on Facebook, Instagram, and X to get all the latest Saint Mary's athletics updates and information.
#GaelsRise
