The WSU Cougar dugout was more empty than usual on Thursday night as the team played without Head Coach Donnie Marbut, who was involved in a car crash before the game. 

The Cougars came up empty in the win column as well, falling 7-3 to the visiting San Jose State Spartans in Game 1 of a four-game series. 

“Tonight we didn’t play very emotional or really anything, so we kind of got what we deserved,” junior catcher P.J. Jones said. 

San Jose State jumped on the board in the top of the first inning with an RBI single from senior second baseman Jacob Valdez, driving in junior center fielder Andre Mercurio from second base. Mercurio singled to lead off the inning and stole second to get into scoring position. 

Sophomore center fielder Trek Stemp doubled with one out in the bottom half of the inning, which gave junior left fielder Yale Rosen an opportunity to tie the score. Rosen did just that by lining an RBI single up the middle to even the game at 1-1. 

Senior right fielder Sheldon Daquioag put the Spartans back on top with a run-scoring single in the top of the second. 

The Spartans broke the game open in the top of the fifth with a four-run rally that would chase senior starter Jason Monda from the game.  

“Coming out today, I didn’t have the command I’ve had in the past,” Monda said. “Normally I have four pitches I can throw for strikes, and today I didn’t really seem to have command over any of them, so that was tough out of the gate.”

That rally was accentuated by two errors in the inning, both on the infield. The first came on an error from sophomore third baseman Patrick McGrath, which allowed Spartan freshman designated hitter Brett Bautista, who led off the inning with a single, to score. 

A throwing error by redshirt junior shortstop Trace Tam Sing allowed another run to score and put runners at first and third with one out. 

Monda left the game after the error from Tam Sing, and junior Sean Hartnett came in to relieve with runners at first and third. Hartnett hit the first batter he faced, but he managed to limit the damage by surrendering only one more run on a sacrifice fly. 

“You always trust the people behind you to make plays,” Monda said. “We have some great players on defense, and that kind of stuff happens. You have to get back up on the mound and trust that you’ll get another ground ball and they’ll get the job done.”

Spartan senior starter Johnny Melero ran into slight trouble of his own in the bottom half of the fifth inning. WSU threatened to answer the Spartans’ rally by loading the bases with the bottom third of their lineup. With nobody out, senior leadoff hitter Collin Slaybaugh stepped to the plate and popped up for the first out. 

Stemp then hit a hot shot to first base that senior Matt Carroll could not handle, which drove in the runner from third. A tailing fly ball off the bat of Rosen landed awkwardly in the glove of senior left fielder Matt Lopez to end the inning. 

Another error, this time by replacement shortstop freshman Luke Stratman, increased the Spartans’ lead to five in the top half of the sixth inning. 

The Cougar offense showed signs of life in the bottom of the eighth inning when Rosen doubled to lead off the inning and Jones drove him in with an RBI single to right center. That was all WSU could muster, though, as Spartan junior reliever Myles Richard pitched his way out of the mini-jam. 

Game 2 of the series will begin tonight at 6 p.m. Southpaw junior Joe Pistorese is expected to start for the Cougars and will oppose sophomore Jonathan Hernandez on the mound. Pistorese is 1-1 with a 2.97 ERA this season, while Hernandez comes into the game with a 0-3 record and a 4.20 ERA.