MESA, Ariz. — Powered by a balanced performance Seattle U baseball avenged its earlier WAC Tournament loss by downing 10-0 on Friday. With the victory, staved elimination and will face UTRGV at 3 pm.
Seattle U starter Nestor German was the story of the game as the freshman blanked the Aggie offense with a career-best seven strikeouts and scattered seven hits while going the distance. The right-hander did not allow more than one hit during the outing except for the fifth. German finished the stellar performance with a 126 pitches, 65 percent were in the strike zone.
Post-game comments from @CoachHarrel pic.twitter.com/xOesUon9q6
— Seattle U Baseball?? (@SeattleUBase) May 29, 2021
The Redhawks opened the scoring in the first plating three runs with two outs. Julian Kodama drove in the first two runs with a base knock to shallow center. Connor O'Brien then recorded his sixth RBI of the tournament with a hit to left, bringing Kodama across to make it 3-0.
From there German went work bookending the first inning with swinging strikeouts. He kept the NMSU hitters off balance retiring 11 of the next 13 batters faced, allowing a double in the second and a single in the third.
In the fourth, the Seattle U offense surged for a four-run frame extending its advantage to 7-0. Matt Boissoneault ignited the push with an RBI single. O'Brien scored on the play after back-to-back steals. Kyle Sherick then Boissoneault across before Austin Lively touched home on a wild pitch. Rork also scored during the inning.
In the bottom half of the frame, German then registered a 1-2-3 inning. After allowing a pair of singles in the fifth, he sat down the next nine-straight Aggies, stretching from end of the fifth to 2/3 into the eighth. German stranded his fourth runner in scoring about Kevin Jimenez doubled in the eighth.
Seattle U tacked on three more runs in the top of the ninth pushing the lead to double-figures, before German closed the book on NM State with an efficient seven-pitch inning.
The performance was German's longest of his career and earned him his fifth win of the season.
At the plate, the SU offense remained hot posting a 13-7 advantage in the hit column. O'Brien led the way with a 3-for-4 day, while Shane Jamison was 3-for-5 . Kodama and Rork followed with two hits apiece.