SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco State baseball team won both games in its double-header against University Colorado, Colorado Springs at Maloney Field. The offense gave the Gators a 13-2 win in the morning game and the pitching staff continued its strong work into the afternoon with a 5-1 win. With the wins, the Gators clinch the series.
- SF State sits at 3-0 while UCCS falls to 1-6.
- Luke O'Brien hit the first home run of the season in game two.
- Nick Upstill went 4-for-5 with a pair of triples, three runs and two RBIs.
- Sammy Gonzales went 4-for-5 on the day including a perfect 3-for-3 in game two.
- The Gators drew six walks in game one including three from Justin Clark.
- Daniel Santos had a game high three RBIs and went 2-for-3.
The Gators put up three spots in back to back innings to open the game while only surrendering one run. Upstill powered the offense and hit back-to-back triples through the first two innings. SF State recorded runs in each of the first five innings to take a 13-2 lead. After
Tyler Franks' day was done after four innings,
Nathan Shinn and
Garrett Jensen combined for five scoreless innings, eight strikeouts and no walks.
During a well pitched game two, the Gators broke the game open when O'Brien launched a two-run homer over the right field fence in the bottom of the third.
The Gators picked up an insurance run when
AJ Schrader brought a runner in to put the Gators up 3-0. Walker Rumsey was able to round the bases to add a run for the Mountain Lions at the top of the fourth. A big two-run double from
Justin Clark added insurance runs for the Gators in the fifth inning. The Mountain Lions loaded up the bases in the seventh inning.
Mario Vargas came in with one out and he and the defense worked their way out of a sticky situation.
- Tyler Franks got the start in game one. He pitched four innings before his day was done and threw six strikeouts while giving up four hits and one earned run.
- Nathan Shinn came in relief and threw six strikeouts through four scoreless innings to earn the win.
- Gary Grosjean started the third game and was two innings shy of throwing a complete seven-inning game. He threw eight strikeouts, allowed three hits, one run and one walk.
"Game one Tyler Franks set the tone. I think our offense set the tone we put six or seven on the board early and gave Tyler some room to work.," said Head Coach Tony Schifano. "Certainly impressed with the freshman Nathan Shinn who threw four strong and Garrett Jensen ended it. I'll tell the team till I'm blue in the face championship teams come down to good defense and pitching. For us so far, Elgite, Franks, Shinn, Jensen, Vargas and Gary in game two has been fantastic."
SF State wraps the series up Sunday at 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast on the CCAA Network with live stats available at sfstategators.com. Updates will also be available on Twitter at @sfstatebaseball.
