SAN JOSE, Calif. – A pitcher’s duel that featured the top-two strikeout arms in the Mountain West did not disappoint on Friday night as the University of New Mexico’s Justin Slaten and San Jose State University’s Andrew Mitchell each pitched 7.0 innings and combined for 19 strikeouts. SJSU’s Mitchell would get the better of Slaten, however, as the Spartans rallied to take the lead in the seventh and held on for a 4-2 win.
The loss for the Lobos (15-15, 6-7 MW) places them three games back of San Jose State, who entered play atop the MW standings at 8-4 in league play. Conversely, the win for the Spartans (15-15, 9-4 MW) snapped what was a six-game losing streak with all losses coming out of MW action.
In the game on Friday night, San Jose jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on a two-out double to right field off the bat of Blake Berry. After that initial tally, the Spartans did not score again off of Slaten until the seventh inning when they rallied for a pair of runs to take a 3-2 lead.
The two runs for the Lobos came in the top of the third as Jared Mang extended his team and Mountain West-leading RBI total to 39 by driving in both Nick Atkins and Justin Watari on a single to left-centerfield.
Over the course of the next three innings, both Slaten and Mitchell matched one another seemingly pitch-by-pitch as neither team scored in the middle innings.
The turning point of the tightly-contested game came in the top of the seventh when Mitchell, who’s pitch count was rising, was the beneficiary of a rocket line drive double play off the bat of Watari to end the inning. That clearly shifted the momentum to SJSU, and they responded offensively the next half inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Spartans scored two runs on three hits and benefitted from a Lobo error to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead at 3-2. The next inning, the Spartans received a run of insurance on a leadoff home run by Kellen Strahm.
In the ninth, the Lobos would send the tying run to the plate with two outs, by the Spartans’ closer Fineas Bonta-Smith was able to put the nails in his league-leading eighth save of the season.
Game two of the series will be played on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (MT). Nathaniel Garley is scheduled to take the mound for the Lobos as they look to even the series at a game apiece.
Lobos upended late in series opener at SJSU
