San José, Calif. – Saint Louis got a first-inning home run from
Ethan Sitzman, but San José State University utilized two big innings to take an 11-4 win in the opening game of the series at Excite Ballpark today.
SLU (12-7) had eight hits in the game from eight different batters. Sitzman had a home run and an RBI, while
Cody Jansen had a two-RBI double and scored a run himself.
Colin Bergmann had an RBI single, while
Knox Preston had a double.
Cole Smith and
Cameron Swanger scored a run each.
Henry Litman started and went five and a third, allowing one earned run, striking out five and scattering four hits.
Colby Downard,
Ben Cherico,
Brock Graf and
Jack Dumont threw in relief for the Billikens.
SJSU (8-9) scored a single run in the third, fifth and sixth innings, before breaking out for eight runs over the seventh and eighth.
The Billikens struck first with Stitzman's third home run of the season putting Saint Louis up 1-0 in the top of the first.
Litman pitched around a leadoff double and a wild pitch that put a runner at third with no outs in the first. He struck out a pair and got the final batter to line out and end the first.
The Spartans answered back with a home run of their own in the third when Charles McAdoo tied the game at one after three.
Saint Louis threatened in the fourth, loading the bases, but couldn't put a run on the board.
San José State took a 2-1 lead in the fifth on an unearned run and the Spartans added another run in the sixth and five more in the seventh to lead 8-1 after seven innings.
Back-to-back pinch hits from Jansen and Bergmann plated three runs for the Billikens in the eighth. Jansen doubled down the left field line to score Swanger and Smith, while Bergmann followed with a single up the middle to score Jansen, getting Saint Louis within four.
The Spartans added three in the bottom half of the eighth to make the final score 11-4.
This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. Both teams will be back at it tomorrow afternoon with a first-pitch of 3:05 pm.
