San Jose, Calif. - Heading into the opener of a four-game Western Athletic Conference baseball series at Municipal Stadium on Friday, May 16, the San Jose State University baseball team had hit just 19 home runs 50 games this season, while the visiting Wolf Pack of the University of Nevada had produced 51 long balls in 51 contests.

So much for statistical trends.

The host Spartans got two clutch home runs off the bats of the veterans on the left side of their infield, Sonny Garza and Kyle Bellows, to help trot them out to a 6-0 advantage after three innings, and held Nevada at bay behind a trio of effective pitchers and sound defense in winning by the final score of 7-4 on a scorching night at Muni.

San Jose State has now hit at least one home run in five straight games late in the season.

With the victory, San Jose State improves to 28-23 overall and an even 14-14 in the WAC. Nevada falls to 31-21 overall and 18-11 in league play. It was the first meeting between the conference rivals this season, after they faced each other a total of eight times a year ago, with the Wolf Pack winding up with a 5-3 advantage.

With two outs in the first, Bellows reached on an infield single to shortstop, and Garza hammered the first pitch he saw from senior right-hander Rod Scurry over the wall in left for a 2-0 lead. It was the second home of the senior third baseman’s season and major college career.

Freshman leftfielder Craig Hertler led off the bottom of the third with a five-pitch walk. Sophomore second baseman Karson Klauer then poked a single through the left side on a 1-2 pitch, before Bellows blasted his fourth home run of the campaign high down the left field line.

Garza was hit by Scurry two pitches later, moved to second on a ground ball for the first out of the frame, and sped around third to score on a single through the right side by junior rightfielder Alex Sofranac.

Nevada got on the board in the fifth and produced a three-run rally in the sixth to chase left-handed junior Spartan starter David Berner, but San Jose State tacked on an insurance run in the eighth and held on thanks to stellar relief efforts by junior right-handers Jack Adams (0.2 IP, 1 BB) and Anthony Vega. Vega tossed three innings of scoreless, one-hit relief, striking out four while picking up his second straight save and third on the year. Berner (3-7) got the win.

Bellows, a San Jose native out of Santa Teresa High School, finished 2-for-4 with the home run, two runs scored and three driven in. The long ball was also the 10th of his college career. Garza was 1-for-3 with the home run, hit-by-pitch, two runs and two RBI in front of his mother and sister who flew in from Washington earlier in the day for Senior Day weekend.

Klauer and Jason Martin (San Jose, Calif./The Harker School) added two hits apiece. Hertler, another San Jose native out of Branham High School, was 0-for-3 with two walks, one run, one RBI and a stolen base on the night.

Berner allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk over 5.1 innings, striking out four. He escaped each of the first two frames without giving up a run after the leadoff batters reached base. In the first he struck out Shaun Kort, the reigning WAC Freshman of the Year, swinging with runners at second and third and one out. Garza then stepped in front of Bellows to gather a ground ball hit by senior DH Terry Walsh and fire to freshman first baseman Danny Stienstra for the first of numerous nice plays for the Spartan defense.

After a Nick Leid leadoff single in the top of the second, Mike Hale lined a ball that glanced off Berner’s body and toward Stienstra, who moved in to collect the ball and sprinted back to the first base bag and narrowly beat Hale there to record the first out of the inning. The very next batter, Kevin Rodland, stung a ball in the air toward the hole between second and third base, but Bellows gracefully leapt high and slightly to his right to snatch it for out number two.

For Nevada, rightfielder Matt Bowman was 2-for-4. Scurry (5-7) gave up six runs on six hits and four walks in 5.0 innings. He struck out a pair. Right-hander Dan Eastham threw 3.0 innings of effective relief, allowing just one run on three hits and one walk, with two strikeouts of his own.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, sophomore DH Corey Valine singled and was lifted for a pinch-runner in the form of senior Eric Boyd. Martin singled through the left side to advance Boyd before junior catcher Anthony Aguilera worked the count full and eventually earned a walk to load the bases. Hertler’s subsequent fielder’s choice allowed Boyd to score for a 7-4 lead.

Nevada used leadoff doubles to score in back-to-back innings midway through the game. It was Rodland who doubled and scored the first Pack run in the fifth on a one-out Jason Sadoian single. In the sixth, Nevada scored on an RBI single by Hale, an Adams wild pitch and a pinch-hit, RBI groundout by Waylen Sing Chow, all after Kort had doubled down the right field line.

Additionally on the defensive side, Sofranac made a diving catch on a foul ball down the right field line by catcher Travis Simas for the first out of the fifth. Aguilera gunned down Bowman attempting to steal second for the second out in the seventh after a leadoff single off Vega.

San Jose State and Nevada continue their four-game series with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m. inside Municipal Stadium on Saturday, May 17. The Spartans are expected to go with junior right-hander Scott Sobczak (4-2, 4.01 ERA) and sophomore left-hander Max Peterson (4-5, 5.40 ERA) on the mound, against senior right-hander Kyle Howe (8-1, 3.69 ERA) and freshman left-hander Brock Stassi (3-1, 4.79 ERA) for the Wolf Pack.

San Jose State 7, Nevada 4

Nevada (31-21, 18-11 WAC) 000 013 000 - 4 8 1
San Jose State (28-23, 14-14 WAC) 204 000 01X - 7 9 0

Scurry, Eastham (6) and Simas, Jaquez (6). David Berner, Jack Adams (6), Anthony Vega (7) and Anthony Aguilera. WP - David Berner (3-7). LP - Scurry (5-7). Save - Anthony Vega (3). 2B - Kort, Rodland (NEV). HR - Sonny Garza (2), Kyle Bellows (4) (SJSU). 2 hits - Bowman (NEV); Karson Klauer, Kyle Bellows, Jason Martin (SJSU). 3 RBI - Kyle Bellows (SJSU). 2 RBI - Sonny Garza (SJSU). Attendance - 388.