Box Score Follow the Diamond Dons: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM SAN FRANCISCO—The Dons had ample opportunity to get on the board early and late in the contest but were unable to get the big hit as they fell to San Jose State 4-3 on Tuesday afternoon.
"We were able to get runners on base and move the baseball around a little bit and guys would just press," San Francisco associate head coach
Troy Nakamura said. "They got runners in scoring position, they kind of got off their approach, swinging over our heads, taking called strike threes with runners I scoring position. It's a recipe for not putting up enough runs on any given day."
With the Dons down 4-3 in the ninth, they had a chance to tie the game.
Zack Turner led off the inning with a single and was followed by another single by
Brendan Hendriks to set up runners at the corners with no outs.
But San Francisco (15-16, 5-7 WCC) struggled to get runners home all afternoon and the ninth inning was no different.
Cody Snider came in as a pinch hitter and struck out looking.
Bob Cruikshank did the same.
Harrison Bruce was inches away from a possible walk-off hit but had it go foul and then flied out to end the game.
The Dons left 13 runners on base against San Jose State.
They will return to the field on Friday to begin a three-game set with West Coast Conference newcomer Pacific.
The Dons kept the recent trend going by getting o the board early. In the bottom of the second,
Justin McCullough and Cruikshank ripped back-to-back doubles to put the Dons up 1-0. San Francisco had a chance to break it open in the following inning when the Dons got the bases loaded with two outs and saw McCullough strike out swinging.
USF struck out 10 times against SJSU pitching.
On the flip side,
Sheldon Lee contained the San Jose State lineup and went the first four innings allowing no runs on one hit.
"He commanded three pitches for strikes, he was aggressive," Nakamura said. "When he missed, it wasn't in the middle of the plate. He threw the ball well. He came out and did exactly what we asked him to do."
He was relieved by
Matt Narahara and the Spartans took advantage. They got back-to-back hits and a hit batsman to load the bases with no outs and tied the game on a groundout by Alec De Watteville. After a pitching chance, Kyle Gallegos hit a sacrifice fly to give San Jose State a 2-1 lead.
San Francisco responded in the bottom half when
Michael Kathan scored on a single by
Derek Atkinson to tie the game at two.
San Jose State tacked on two more in the seventh. After a leadoff single, Brett Bautista drove in the run on a RBI double and it was followed up two batters later on a RBI single by De Watteville to take a 4-2 lead.
The Dons looked to have another chance to get back in the game later that inning. They got back-to-back singles from
Bradley Zimmer and Atkinson to give them runners at first and third with no outs. Two batters later, Hendriks doubled to drive home one and they cut the lead to one.
USF still had two runners on with one down but were unable to plate another and went into the eighth down 4-3.
Bradley Zimmer kept his hit streak alive on the first pitch of the first inning when he singled to center, extending it to 19 games. He went 3-for-4 on the day, raising his average to .430.
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