Senior Pat Hutcheson is tagged out by San Jose State’s Jacob Valdez after
being caught in a pickle in Sunday’s 11-2 loss at Beiden Field.
Dalton Runberg / The Collegian

For the first time in a decade, San Jose State swept Fresno State in a three-game series.

The Bulldogs couldn’t produce a win as they lost their second consecutive Western Athletic Conference series.

The Bulldogs (15-19, 1-5 WAC) are at the bottom of the conference standings, but with WAC play just getting underway, the season is far from being over.

“It’s not about what one individual can do during a game. It’s what the whole team can do and we definitely struggled,” said Fresno State second baseman Pat Hutcheson.

Friday’s rain turned Saturday into a daylong euphoria of baseball as the game was made into a next-day doubleheader.

Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it was the Spartans who were left celebrating a clean sweep on the day, taking the first game 4-0 and the nightcap 4-3.

In the first game, Spartan Johnny Melero picked up his second win of the season going five scoreless innings allowing five hits and one walk.

Jason Kafka and Kalei Contrades came on in relief to finish off the combined shutout of the Bulldogs. Kafka pitched the sixth giving up a walk while Contrades pitched three perfect innings to pick up his first save of the season.

The Bulldogs started off the game well, retiring the first two batters, but following a walk to Nick Schulz, the Spartans collected back-to-back singles to load the bases. Catcher Kyle Gallegos then drew a walk to bring in the first run of the game.

The Spartans would add two more runs in the fifth on a pair of RBI singles from Caleb Natov and Matt Lopez to increase their lead to three. The Spartans last run would come on a fielder’s choice groundout by Andre Mercurio in the sixth.

Bulldog Justin Haley got the loss and dropped to 4-3 on the mound. He finished the day pitching six innings with five strikeouts. He allowed four runs, seven hits and three walks.

Offensively, Hutcheson was the only Bulldog to collect multiple hits for the team hitting two singles.

The second game netted almost the same result with the difference being that this time the Bulldogs’ offense started to get on track, although the comeback effort was too little, too late.

Instead of putting together a string of runs as they did in the first game, the Spartans lumped them all in a four-run second inning. With two outs and no runners on in the second, the Spartans put together a rally of seven straight base runners on five hits to score all four runs.

The Spartans’ Michael Gerlach got the offense moving with single up the middle that brought down the flood gates of the Bulldog defense. Gallegos drew a walk to put two on base bringing up Tyler Christian who would get an RBI double, Michael Reiling for an RBI single and Mercurio for an RBI single.

After Jacob Valdez was hit by a pitch, Schulz singled to drive in the Spartans last run. The inning finally came to an end with Jon Nelson, who led off the inning, flying out to right field.

The Bulldogs finally were able to crack the scoreboard for the first time in the fourth inning.

Freshman Jordan Luplow led off the inning with a single followed by a single from Hutcheson and a RBI single from Aaron Judge for the first run. Hutcheson scored when Trent Garrison hit into a double play.

The ‘Dogs inched closer in the eighth inning off the bat of Hutcheson. With one out in the inning Hutcheson launched a home run to right-center bringing the score to its final tally of 4-3.

The Spartans Esteban Guzman earned his first win of the season going five innings and allowing three runs. Closer Zack Jones picked up his sixth save in one and two-third innings including striking out the side in the ninth.

Tom Harlan pitched a complete game but dropped to 4-5 in his three-strikeout performance. After the second inning, Harlan settled down tremendously allowing a lead-off single as the only hit for the Spartans the rest of the night.

“We just got to keep pushing,” Harlan said. “We’re going to bounce back. There’s a lot of potential with this team.”

The Spartans got on the scoreboard early in Sunday’s finale and completed their sweep of the Bulldogs in an 11-2 victory.

A lead-off single by Mercurio put pressure on the Bulldog defense, causing an error by Tyler Linehan on Reiling’s sacrifice bunt. Two batters later the Spartans’ Lopez came through with a two-run single, both runs were unearned.

The Bulldogs answered with a run in the fifth on a RBI single by Daniel Moultrie following Hutcheson’s double.

In the sixth the Spartans destroyed any hope of a Bulldog comeback, scoring seven runs on eight hits for a 9-1 lead. The Spartans brought up 12 batters in the inning.

Lopez tacked on another run for the Spartans in the eighth with a single. Schultz would score later in the inning on an error.

It was the third game this season that the Bulldogs have given up 10 or more runs.

Tyler Linehan took the loss for the Bulldogs going five and one-third innings. He gave up nine runs, two of which were unearned, and 11 hits while striking out six.

Hutcheson was the only Bulldog to get multiple hits in every game of the series.

Fresno State will take a break from conference action and travel to Cal Poly for a single game Tuesday at 6 p.m.