Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
San Jose St
Baseball Swept by San Jose State
4/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 14, 2002
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Fresno State (20-19, 8-7 WAC) was swept for the third time this season, falling 7-5 against San Jose State (29-12, 9-6 WAC) Sunday afternoon. With the loss the Bulldogs fall into third place in the WAC standings for the first time this season.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the first inning, scoring three runs. Junior catcher Ben Fritz (San Jose, Calif.) came up with the bases loaded for the second straight game and delivered a single to left field to drive in sophomores shortstop Chris Patrick (Fresno, Calif.) and third baseman Casey McGehee (Santa Cruz, Calif.).
FS added one more on a sacrifice fly by freshman designated hitter Brandon Esparza (Gilroy, Calif.) that brought in senior outfielder Tobey Riday-White (Berkeley, Calif.).
Like yesterday's game, however, it would be all the Bulldogs could muster until their ninth inning rally. Spartan starter RHP Matt Durkin would go on to shut FS down for the next seven innings.
Freshman RHP Sean Ruthven (Alpharetta, Ga.) would suffer the same fate as Durkin in his first inning, surrendering three runs to San Jose State.
The Spartans got the first run on a single by second baseman Gabe Lopez. They would add two more on a fielder's choice and sacrifice fly, which tied the game.
SJSU got to Ruthven once again in the third inning tacking on three more runs. Shortstop Ryan Adams singled in Lopez for the first run. With two men aboard, senior RHP Francisco Nieves (Oakland, Calif.) came in relief, but gave up a two-run double to catcher Adam Shorsher. Both runs were charged to Ruthven.
Ruthven would go on to suffer his second loss of the season and first as a starter this season, going 2.2 innings while giving up six runs on four hits.
Nieves failed to record an out in his outing facing three batters, giving up two hits and a walk. Senior RHP Zach Minor (Walnut Creek, Calif.) would finish the third inning and the game.
In the sixth inning San Jose State added an insurance run to up its lead to 7-3 on an RBI single by designated hitter Hector Zamora.
Fresno State made some noise in the ninth getting two runs on RBI singles by juniors outfielder Brendon Suga (Mililani, Hawaii) and first baseman T.J. Boyd (Kingsburg, Calif.).
The Bulldogs had a chance to tie the game with men on second and third, but failed to bring in the runs as pinch hitter senior Jared Walker (Gardnerville, Nev.) and Patrick each made an out to end the game.
McGehee extended his hitting streak to 15 games going 1-for-4 with a run scored on the day.
Fresno State will be in action Tuesday at Cal for one game starting at 2:30 p.m.
