Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
San Jose St
No. 15 Baseball Drops Series Opener
4/28/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 28, 2000
FRESNO, Calif. - San Jose State scored four runs in the first inning and made it stand en route to a 7-3 victory against No. 15 Fresno State on Friday night at Pete Beiden Field. The Bulldogs saw their record drop to 33-13 overall and 14-8 in conference play, while the Spartans improved to 30-16 took over first place in the WAC standings at 15-7.
San Jose State chased Bulldog starter Tom Graham (Sr., Modesto, Calif.) after only seven batters. Graham allowed four runs on four hits and recorded only one out. The Spartans scored a run in the fourth and added a pair of tallies in the fourth to extend their lead to 7-0. Fresno State rallied for three runs in the eight but could not overcome the deficit.
San Jose State starter Chris Key was outstanding in his 11th start of the season. Key went the distance allowing only four hits. He walked two and struck six in improving to 10-1 for the season. The 6-foot-3 lefty retired 16 of the first 19 hitters he faced and became the first pitcher in the conference to register double digit wins this season.
"The deal tonight was that they came out and scored four runs early and Key pitched a good ballgame," Fresno State head coach Bob Bennett. "He doesn't throw hard, but he's a good pitcher."
Graham, who had his shortest start of the season, saw his record fall to 6-5. Mike Hernandez (Fr., Fresno, Calif.) relieved Graham in the first and allowed three runs on six hits in his 4.1 innings of work. Zach Minor (So., Walnut Creek, Calif.) shut out the Spartans over the final 4.1 innings and struck out three for the Bulldogs.
"Minor did a good job in relief and saved us some pitching," Bennett said. "He gave us a chance to come back."
Brad Harper (So., Madera, Calif.) paced the Fresno State offense by going 2-for-3 with a two-run double in the seventh. Mike Bowlin (Sr., San Jose, Calif.) went 1-for-3 with a run scored and one RBI. Both Tom Creighton (So., Weldon, Calif.) and Brandon Gemoll (So., San Jose, Calif.) went 0-for-4 and saw their career-high hitting streaks end at 16 and 15 games, respectively. Creighton's on-base streak also ended at 34 contests.
The series continues on Saturday night at Beiden Field. Right-hander Shawn Hannah (Sr., Clovis, Calif.) is scheduled to make his 13th start of the season for the Bulldogs. Hannah is 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA this year. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
