Cal Poly Rallies From Early Three-Run Deficit to Beat San Jose State 7-4

Friday, April 1

6 pm

17-7

San Jose State

8-17

San Jose State

Cal Poly

Cal Poly Rallies From Early Three-Run Deficit to Beat San Jose State 7-4

4/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Infielder Kyle Marinconz, designated hitter Alec Smith and left fielder Josh George all collected three hits — Smith and George each driving in a pair of runs -- as Cal Poly rallied from an early 4-1 deficit for its fourth straight win, a 7-4 nod over San Jose State on Friday night before 1,269 inside Baggett Stadium.

Sophomore southpaw Kyle Smith (4-1) settled down after giving up four runs (three earned) in the first three frames, finishing with six strikeouts and no walks over 7 1/3 innings for his fourth win of the year.

With the non-conference win in the opening game of the three-game series, Cal Poly improves to 17-7 for the season. San Jose State falls to to 8-17.

San Jose State banged out two hits in each of the first three innings and took advantage of two Mustang errors for four runs and a 4-1 advantage heading into the bottom of the third.

That's when Cal Poly loaded the bases with nobody out on singles by Marinconz and John Schuknecht sandwiching a walk to Brett Barbier. Michael Sanderson grounded into a double play which brought home the first run of the inning, trimming San Jose State's lead to 4-2.

A succession of two-out hits gave Cal Poly the lead for good at 5-4. Alec Smith tripled to right-center field to make it 4-3, George doubled to left-center field to tie the game at 4-4 and Nick Meyer singled to right-center field to put the Mustangs on top 5-4.

Cal Poly added two more runs in the fifth on RBI singles by George and Alex McKenna.

Kyle Smith (pictured at right) retired 13 of the next 15 batters he faced after San Jose State built its 4-1 lead, retiring the side in order twice, and threw 115 pitches over 7 1/3 innings. Justin Calomeni secured the final five outs, one via strikeout, for his fourth save of the year.

The loss went to San Jose State starter Graham Gomez (1-2) as he allowed five runs and seven hits over 2 2/3 innings with two walks and no strikeouts.

Alec Smith (pictured above) entered the game with an .083 batting average but started as the designated hitter after two strong practices in the cage and went 3-for-4 to bump his average up 96 points.

George also went 3-for-4 and is now hitting .317 on the year while Marinconz was 3-for-5 to lift his average to .312. McKenna added two hits and one RBI.

San Jose State's 10 hits included two each by Ozzy Braff, Shane Timmons, Brendt Citta and Michael Breen.

Cal Poly is now 12-2 at home this season, 14-1 when scoring six or more runs and 15-0 when leading after the sixth inning.

Second game of the series will be played Saturday night with sophomore right-hander Jarred Zill (1-1, 4.66 ERA) on the mound for the Mustangs, facing Spartan sophomore right-hander Matt Brown (1-3, 4.35 ERA).