SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Uncharacteristically sloppy defense led to four unearned runs as Sacramento State fell to San Francisco, 8-4, in a non-league game on Wednesday at John Smith Field.
The Hornets (15-14) committed two errors in the sixth inning where the Dons (14-14) scored four runs and a third error in the seventh resulted in another run. Sacramento State entered the game with a fielding percentage of .982 which ranked sixth among the 297 NCAA Div. I teams.
San Francisco used nine pitchers in the game who combined to allow 10 hits but did not allow a walk. Starter Christian Cecilio was the lone Don to throw more than one inning and improved to 3-0 in the controlled start.
Zach Morgan (2-2) took the loss for the Hornets after lasting 6.1 innings and allowing seven runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks.
USF scored two runs in the first inning to take an early lead it never relinquished. Justin Maffei led off with a double down the left field line. He later scored on a fielders choice and the Dons tacked on a second run with a bases loaded walk.
San Francisco pushed the lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly from Bob Cruikshank in the third inning before the Hornets scored their first run with an infield single from David Del Grande which brought Will Soto in.
The Dons broke the game open in the top of the sixth. An error put Harrison Bruce on first before a double from Cruikshank. Brendan Hendriks drove in the lead runner with a single to center and a groundout to short scored the second run. A throwing error kept the inning alive before Maffei had an RBI single. The final run of the inning came on a single through the left side of the infield to make the score, 7-1.
Sacramento State responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning with a single from Will Soto which scored Chris Lewis and a double down the right field line by Scotty Burcham to plate Nathan Lukes and Soto.
The Hornets were unable to threaten in the remaining three innings, picking up one hit in the eighth and ninth inning.
Lewis, Soto and Burcham each had two hits to lead the Sacramento State. Lewis extended his on-base streak to 20 games while Burcham pushed his streak to 16 games.
Sacramento State returns to Western Athletic Conference play on Friday to start a three-game series against Texas State. The Bobcats enter the weekend tied for first in the WAC with a 5-1 conference record. The Hornets are 2-4 in league games.
