Courtesy: Tod Fierner Kyle Barraclough threw six scoreless innings against San Jose State on Saturday for his first win of the season.
San Jose, CA - After dropping a one-run decision to the Spartans on Friday to open the season, the Saint Mary's baseball team answered with an impressive 12-4 victory on the road against San Jose State on Saturday. The Gaels got great starting pitching performance from sophomore Kyle Barraclough, and pounded out 20 hits against five Spartans pitchers.
SMC jumped out to an 8-0 lead through six innings, as Barraclough threw 6.2 innings, with five strikeouts and three earned runs before giving way to the bullpen, to improve to 1-0 on the season.
Markus Melgosa led the offensive assault on the Spartans pitching staff as the sophomore right fielder had a career day with five hits in six at-bats. Melgosa, who had eight hits in 30 at-bats as a freshman, scored three runs while driving in another two, and added his first career triple.
Adding to the offensive production, SMC got three-hit days from Troy Channing (3-6), Michael Cipolla (3-4) and Donald Collins (3-5). After going 0-for-2 with three walks on Friday, Channing doubled once in his three hits, scored twice, and drove in one run. Cipolla's day included a double and three RBI and Collins scored two runs.
The big blow of the day came off the bat of freshman third baseman Patrick Wisdom, who's three-run homerun in the third inning gave the Gaels a 5-0 lead, and some breathing room on the mound for Barraclough.
After a scoreless first inning, Saint Mary's got on the scoreboard with two runs in the second inning, before Widsom's bomb in the third. The Gaels added a single run in the fourth, then extended their lead to 8-0 in the fifth inning on a two-RBI single to right field by Ryan Mulligan.
Saint Mary's added to its lead in the seventh inning, scoring two runs to take a 10-0 lead when Cipolla doubled to left center, plating Mulligan and Melgoza.
San Jose State touched up Barraclough in the bottom of the seventh inning for three runs, before he was replaced by freshman Patrick Keane. Keane finished the game for the Gaels, throwing 2.1 innings in relief in his first career appearance, allowing one run on one hit, while striking out three hitters.
Saint Mary's and San Jose State will play the rubber game of the three game series on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. from Louis Guisto Field. The probable starting pitchers are right-hander Blake McFarland for San Jose State and for right-hander Mark Anderson for Saint Mary's.
Courtesy: Tod Fierner
