Senior southpaw Branden Dewing pitched a four-hitter and Cal Poly committed six errors as San Jose State opened its 2006 baseball season with a 6-0 victory over the Mustangs in the first of a three-game series on Friday at Blethen Field.
Dewing struck out three and walked one for the win, throwing just 96 pitches, as the Spartans beat the Mustangs in their opener for the second straight year. Cal Poly fell to 3-1.
San Jose State scored four unearned runs in the third inning as the Mustangs made four errors and added two more runs, both earned despite another Cal Poly error, in the fourth.
In the third, the Spartans had just one hit – a single by catcher Brody Massman – but also took advantage of a walk, catcher’s interference, two hit batsmen and the four Mustang errors. A two-run single by Brandon Fromm in the fourth staked the Spartans to a 6-0 lead.
Cal Poly had just five baserunners in the game.
Jimmy Van Ostrand drew a leadoff walk in the second inning and the Mustangs picked up their first hit in the fifth frame – singles by Josh Lansford and Adam Buschini.
Brent Walker singled with two outs in the sixth and pinch hitter Brent Morel singled with one out in the eighth.
A day later, Cal Poly was held to just four hits again.
But four were enough on Saturday as Matt Cooper belted a two-run home run and a trio of Mustang pitchers combined on a five-hitter as Cal Poly defeated San Jose State 3-2 in a non-conference baseball game Saturday afternoon at Blethen Field.
Cal Poly scored Saturday’s first run in the third inning when senior first baseman Jimmy Van Ostrand was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Cooper, a senior outfielder for the Mustangs, hit a one-out two-run home run to left field, staking Cal Poly to a 3-0 lead.
San Jose State scored its two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Matt Epidendio and a Mustang throwing error.
Junior right-hander Bud Norris (2-0) earned the win, allowing two runs, one of them earned, and four hits in 5.1 innings with six strikeouts and four walks. Senior right-hander Casey Fien pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in relief of Norris and senior right-hander Rocky Roquet retired all three Spartans he faced in the ninth for his third save.
San Jose State out-hit Cal Poly 5-4, led by first baseman Brandon Fromm with a single and double and right fielder Aaron Lowenthal with two singles.
Cooper, who led the Mustangs a year ago with eight homers, added a single to Saturday’s home run.
The Mustangs, who committed six errors in Friday’s 6-0 loss to the Spartans, were charged with just one error Saturday.
Elsewhere in the Big West, Long Beach State opened its season with a pair of victories at No. 17 University of Southern California. The No. 16 49ers recorded wins of 4-2 and 9-6 over the Trojans.
Cal State Fullerton, which started the season ranked No. 5 by Baseball America, dropped its first two games of a three-game series against Stanford.
UC Riverside and University of the Pacific are each off to 2-0 starts. Cal State Northridge is 3-2 going into Sunday’s game against Nevada and UC Irvine is 1-1 in its season-opening series with No. 25 UC Berkeley.