SAN FRANCISCO — Home runs by Justin Higley, Will Soto and Andrew Ayers sparked an early outburst by Sacramento State on the way to a 7-2 win at San Francisco on Wednesday.

The Hornets won for the second straight day and for the third time in its last four games and now stand at 27-14 overall. The team also improved to 8-2 in midweek games this season while avenging one of its losses this year. USF fell to 22-18.

Sacramento State never trailed in the game as Chris Lewis doubled with two outs in the first and was driven in with a two-run home run to left by Justin Higley. The long ball was the team-leading eighth of the year for Jesuit HS gradyate and his third in the last five games.

Will Soto led off the second inning with his third home run to give the Hornets a 3-0 lead. Over the last five games, Soto has a double, three triples and two home runs. Singles by Rhys Hoskins and Dane Fujinaka set the table for Nathan Lukes who doubled to right and cleared the bases.

A towering home run by Andrew Ayers — his fourth of the season — cleared the line on the large screen in left field with one out in the third.

The Dons posted their only runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jason Mahood led off with a double to left and took third on a single from Derek Atkinson. Both runners advanced on a deep sacrifice fly by Zachary Turner for USF's first run. A double to the right field corner by Mitchell Rowan drove in Atkinson.

Sacramento State added an insurance run in the sixth on a single by Dane Fujinaka which scored Hoskins.

Hunter Greenwood improved to 3-0 with the win. The starter threw five innings and allowed four hits with a walk and strikeout. Tyler Hoelzen pitched a scoreless sixth inning, marking his first action since April 12. He gave way to Brandon Creel who was credited with a save after blanking USF for three innings.

Eight of the nine starters collected a hit in the game for Sacramento State, led by Scotty Burcham and Fujinaka who had two each.

The Hornets will welcome Louisiana Tech for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.