Carson High graduate Joe Mercer's RBI double turned out to be the difference in support of a valiant effort by Travis Sutton as the University of Nevada baseball team defeated San Jose State 3-2 on Friday in San Jose.
Mercer went 2-for-3 and was hit by a pitch for Nevada (22-18, 7-6 in the Western Athletic Conference. Mercer is now hitting .360 (31-for-86) with 30 RBI on the season. Douglas High graduate Austin Graham started as the designated hitter and went 0-for-3.
Sutton went the distance, scattering nine hits to pick up the win while striking out six. Sutton outdueled Corey Cabral for the Spartans (16-22-1, 6-13), who struck out 11 over seven innings while allowing just one earned run. Cabral was victimized by two unearned runs in the first inning. Brian Gazerro led off the game by reaching on shortstop Anthony Contreras' throwing error. Jacob Butler doubled to score Gazerro and Chris Gimenez singled home Butler to give the Wolf Pack a 2-0 lead.
In the sixth, Erick Streelman singled and after Streelman moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gimenez, he scored on Mercer's double that made it 3-1. Gimenez and Brett Hayes also had two hits for Nevada.