Recap: @NCBearsBaseball Misses Opportunities in Season Opener

Friday, February 16

San Jose, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

0-1

San Jose State University

1-0

Northern Colorado

San Jose State

2/16/2018 11:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Northern Colorado baseball fell in its season opener 7-4 at San Jose State

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Fielding errors and missed opportunities in the batter's box hurt Northern Colorado baseball in its season opener at San Jose State Friday night as they fell 7-4. The Bears committed three errors and stranded 12 runners despite jumping out to a 4-0 after just half an inning.

Northern Colorado wasted no time getting on the board to start the 2018 season as the first five batters reach safely. UNC loaded the bases as Austin Miller and Evan Johnson was hit by a pitch, while Cole Maltese worked a walk. Jack Pauley didn't waste time in his first at-bat of the year swinging at the first pitch he saw sending it into right field to score a pair.

Brett Minnick singled as well in his inaugural at-bat of the season to make it a 3-0 ball game. Northern Colorado ended up batting around in the fist, leading 4-0 at the end of it.

San Jose State didn't take long to respond, after seeing its first two batters go down. The rally began with a hit batsman and then a double and single scored a pair of runs for SJSU to close the game at 4-2.

A Shane Timmons solo home run in the third brought UNC's lead down to 4-3.

The Spartans completed its comeback by putting a three spot up on the Bears in the fifth inning. All three runs came with two outs as a fielding error from Cole Maltese extended the inning. Following the error, a walk, double and single plated the trio of runs before the end of the inning to put SJSU up 6-4.

Northern Colorado's final error of the game gave San Jose State an insurance run in the bottom of the eight to make it a 7-4 game.

UNC brought the game-tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth twice after Pauley walked and advanced to third on a Minnick single. SJSU closed out the game with a strikeout and ground out to short to defeat the Bears.

What They Said
Head coach Carl Iwasaki
Overall it was a solid game vs SJSU. The bats started hot tonight and we need to generate timely hits through the middle innings to build on the early lead. We will come back tomorrow with the same effort and play solid defense behind Keenan Lum and Aaron Hamilton and we should have a successful second day of the series.

Game Changer
Right handed relief pitcher Cameron Keup came into the game during the third inning and stabilized it for San Jose State by going 2.1 innings not allowing a run. Keup stranded a pair of Bears when he first entered the game, then only allowed one hit while SJSU's offense completed its comeback.

Stat to Know
Northern Colorado put plenty of runners on base Friday night but ended up stranding 12 men on base. The team hit .208 with runners on base.

Game Notes
- Starter Troy Watson pitched well for Northern Colorado going 6.0 strong innings, allowing six runs, only three earned and seven hits. Watson struck out a career-high eight batters while walking just one of the 26 batters he faced.
- Northern Colorado finished the game with three batters having a multi-hit game. Austin Miller, Brett Minnick and Tyler Yamaguchi were the three Bears to do so.
- Jack Pauley showed good patience at the plate drawing three walks, going 1-for-2 at the plate with a run scored and team-leading two RBI.

What's Ahead?
Northern Colorado and San Jose State continue their four-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 pm MT, game two will begin at 4:30, or 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one. LHP Keenan Lum is UNC's probable starter for game one and RHP Aaron Hamilton in game two.
To stay up to date on all things UNC baseball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter at @NCBearsBaseball.