Saturday, March 7
San Diego, CA
5:00 PM
Saint Mary's College of California
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San Diego State
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Saint Marys
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San Diego State
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#46 Jacob Johnson: 4-for-5, 3 R, 4 RBI, solo-HR (8) vs. San Diego State
Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
BSB | Gritty Response from Saint Mary’s as they Win Game Two 12-9 over San Diego State
3/7/2026 10:04:00 PM | Baseball
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Saint Mary's baseball team responded with a gutsy 12-9 victory in game two against San Diego State Saturday night, evening the three-game series at one game apiece heading into the rubber match on Sunday.
After being held to just five hits Friday night in a narrow 3-2 defeat to the Aztecs, the Gaels offense came alive with 16 hits and 12 runs to hold off a late surge and win their ninth game of the season. Saint Mary's scored in six of the nine innings for its fifth game with double-digit runs. Jacob Johnson had a career high four hits and led the Gaels with four RBI and hit his conference leading eighth home run of the season. Diego Castellanos also had three hits for his fifth multi-hit game of the season as the Gaels were just one hit shy of their season high.
On the mound, Cam Staton battled through four and a third before turning things over to Luis Martin Romero and Sam Kretsch. Romero finished the fifth inning and then Kretsch, who was a part of three separate decisions a week ago, completed the final four innings to earn his second win of the season.
The Gaels will look for the series win Sunday afternoon in the rubber match starting at 1:00 p.m.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Johnson was one of the best power hitters in all of Division I through the first three weeks of the college baseball season as he helped his case Saturday night with a career high four hits to lead the Gaels. Johnson got the scoring started for Saint Mary's with a solo home-run in the first inning for his WCC leading eighth of the season.
After giving up the lead in the bottom half of the opening frame, Saint Mary's went on to score five unanswered runs and take a 6-2 lead into the fifth. RBI hits came from all over the lineup including senior second baseman Cody Kashimoto and junior center fielder Tanner Griffith. Sophomore catcher Ian Armstrong helped cap off a two-run fifth inning with an RBI ground out for his sixth RBI of the season.
Cam Staton would get bumped in the fifth as San Diego State stormed back to score five runs and take a 7-6 lead into the sixth inning. Luis Martin Romero made his fourth appearance of the season and weathered the storm to get out of the sixth, responsible for two of the five runs in the inning. The Gaels would respond though at the plate and score three runs to swing the lead back in their favor for good. Johnson shot a single down the right field line to score two runs and then Makoa Sniffen singled back up the box to score Brady Petit from third to give Saint Mary's a 9-7 lead.
Two runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth gave Saint Mary's enough cushion as Kretsch went four strong innings, allowing just two runs off four hits to record his second win of the season and fifth of his career.
After going hitless in game one on Friday, Tanner Griffith went 2-for-5 out of the leadoff spot while also scoring a run and recording his eighth RBI of the season. Sniffen and Kashimoto had two hits each while Castellanos went 3-for-4 to raise his season batting average to .407.
GAME NOTES
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's will look for the series win on Sunday with first pitch at 1:00 p.m. Stream the game live on the Mountain West Network and follow along with live scoring 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
After being held to just five hits Friday night in a narrow 3-2 defeat to the Aztecs, the Gaels offense came alive with 16 hits and 12 runs to hold off a late surge and win their ninth game of the season. Saint Mary's scored in six of the nine innings for its fifth game with double-digit runs. Jacob Johnson had a career high four hits and led the Gaels with four RBI and hit his conference leading eighth home run of the season. Diego Castellanos also had three hits for his fifth multi-hit game of the season as the Gaels were just one hit shy of their season high.
On the mound, Cam Staton battled through four and a third before turning things over to Luis Martin Romero and Sam Kretsch. Romero finished the fifth inning and then Kretsch, who was a part of three separate decisions a week ago, completed the final four innings to earn his second win of the season.
The Gaels will look for the series win Sunday afternoon in the rubber match starting at 1:00 p.m.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Johnson was one of the best power hitters in all of Division I through the first three weeks of the college baseball season as he helped his case Saturday night with a career high four hits to lead the Gaels. Johnson got the scoring started for Saint Mary's with a solo home-run in the first inning for his WCC leading eighth of the season.
After giving up the lead in the bottom half of the opening frame, Saint Mary's went on to score five unanswered runs and take a 6-2 lead into the fifth. RBI hits came from all over the lineup including senior second baseman Cody Kashimoto and junior center fielder Tanner Griffith. Sophomore catcher Ian Armstrong helped cap off a two-run fifth inning with an RBI ground out for his sixth RBI of the season.
Cam Staton would get bumped in the fifth as San Diego State stormed back to score five runs and take a 7-6 lead into the sixth inning. Luis Martin Romero made his fourth appearance of the season and weathered the storm to get out of the sixth, responsible for two of the five runs in the inning. The Gaels would respond though at the plate and score three runs to swing the lead back in their favor for good. Johnson shot a single down the right field line to score two runs and then Makoa Sniffen singled back up the box to score Brady Petit from third to give Saint Mary's a 9-7 lead.
Two runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth gave Saint Mary's enough cushion as Kretsch went four strong innings, allowing just two runs off four hits to record his second win of the season and fifth of his career.
After going hitless in game one on Friday, Tanner Griffith went 2-for-5 out of the leadoff spot while also scoring a run and recording his eighth RBI of the season. Sniffen and Kashimoto had two hits each while Castellanos went 3-for-4 to raise his season batting average to .407.
GAME NOTES
- Saint Mary's recorded 16 hits and 12 runs, just one hit shy of its season high and its fifth game with double-digit runs this season
- The Gaels were 2-for-17 with runners on and 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position Friday night in game one. On Saturday, they hit .400 from the plate with runners on and .450 with runners in scoring position
- Sam Kretsch leads all relievers for the Gaels with 19 strikeouts and six appearances this season
- Kretsch got credit for his fourth decision this season, improving to 2-0
- Johnson recorded a career high four hits and leads the Gaels with eight home runs and 26 RBI
- Saint Mary's is now 10-2 this season when committing one or fewer errors
- Gaels scored in six of the nine innings in game two against the Azetcs
- Castellanos had three hits in the win and is now one hit off the team high, sitting with 22 hits and a .407 batting average
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's will look for the series win on Sunday with first pitch at 1:00 p.m. Stream the game live on the Mountain West Network and follow along with live scoring 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
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kretsch, Sam (2-0)
L: Canavan, Chris (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Williams, Brett 1
HR: Johnson, Jacob 1
RBI: Sniffen, Makoa 1 ; Petit, Brady 1 ; Griffith, Tanner 1 ; Mettam, Jared 1 ; Kashimoto, Cody 1 ; Castellanos, Diego 2 ; Armstrong, Ian 1 ; Johnson, Jacob 4
SH: Petit, Brady 1
SF: Johnson, Jacob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sniffen, Makoa 2 ; Petit, Brady 1 ; Griffith, Tanner 1 ; Kashimoto, Cody 3 ; Castellanos, Diego 1 ; Williams, Brett 1 ; Johnson, Jacob 3
SB: Sniffen, Makoa 1
PO: Williams, Brett 1
Batting:
2B: Justice, Zach 2
3B: Jackson, Jake 1
RBI: Santana, Dawson 2 ; Marnell IV, Anthony 2 ; Justice, Zach 4
SF: Marnell IV, Anthony 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jackson, Jake 1 ; Santana, Dawson 1 ; Peterson, Tyce 2 ; Trosky, Jabin 2 ; Farrell, Max 1 ; Justice, Zach 2
SB: Santana, Dawson 1
HBP: Santana, Dawson 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
3
H
4
RBI
4
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
6
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
C
/ BaseballOF
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/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballRHP
/ BaseballRHP
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/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballLHP
/ BaseballBSB | Saint Mary's vs. UC Davis Highlights, 3-3-26
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