Photo Courtesy Rick Cabral

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sacramento State junior right fielder Nathan Lukes broke the Sacramento State career hits record with a home run to lead the Hornets to a 9-3 win in game one and Ty Nichols and Sam Long limited Northern Colorado to just three base runners as the Hornets won game two 7-1 to complete a sweep of Saturday's doubleheader.

In a WAC series scheduled to be played in Colorado but moved to Sacramento due to forecasted rain, Sacramento State (28-23, 14-9 WAC) moved two games ahead of Northern Colorado (16-26, 12-11 WAC) in the conference standings with the sweep. The Hornets are the designated road team for all three games in the series, which will conclude at noon Sunday.

In a scoreless game one with two outs in the third inning, Lukes launched a 3-1 pitch over the right field wall for his 230th career hit, breaking a tie with former Hornet Aurelio Jackson to become Sacramento State's all-time hits leader. His record-tying 229th career hit on Tuesday vs. UC Davis was also a home run.

"I went 3-0 and then he threw a strike, and then I knew he was going to come back with another fastball," Lukes said of the record-breaking home run. "I try to just put a good swing on it and see where it goes. Whenever you get a hit you have to be happy with it."

Lukes finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs in game one and had another hit and two runs scored in game two. Freshman designated hitter Devin Lehman combined to go 5-for-9 in the two games with two RBIs and freshman Vinny Esposito had four hits on the day and finished just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle in game two.

Senior Scotty Burcham had a hit in each game but saw his incredible run of 10 straight multi-hit games come to an end. His two hits did move him into a tie with former Sacramento State player and current assistant coach David Flores for fourth in program history with 226 career hits. Every starting position player for the Hornets had at least one hit in both games, with the team tallying 13 hits in each contest.

In game one, Lukes' solo homer gave the Hornets the lead and the squad put up a four-spot in the next inning, highlighted by a two-run home run from catcher Gunner Pollman, to jump ahead 5-0. Northern Colorado got in the run in the fifth before Sacramento State answered with two runs in the sixth on RBI singles from Lukes and freshman Bronson Grubbs.

The Bears chipped away with single runs in the sixth and seventh before the Hornets built back to a six-run edge with two runs in the ninth on RBI singles from Esposito and freshman Dan Deely. Senior Brennan Leitao picked up his program-record 30th career win, allowing three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts over seven innings pitched.

Sacramento State took an early lead in game two as well, scoring twice in the second inning on doubles by Esposito and Deely and an RBI single from sophomore Brandon Hunley. Northern Colorado cut its deficit in half with a run in the third before Lehman made the score 3-1 with an RBI single in the fifth.

Esposito hit his sixth home run of the season leading off the sixth inning. In the seventh, Lukes drew a two-out walk and a double by Burcham followed by an RBI single from Lehman opened up a 6-1 Hornet lead. Sacramento State added a seventh run in the ninth on a Chris Lewis RBI double.

Nichols made the start in game two and improved to 4-0, allowing just one run on three hits and no walks with five strikeouts. Long pitched the last three innings to earn his first career save and was literally unhittable, retiring all nine men he faced with no hits or walks and five strikeouts.

On the day five Hornet pitchers combined to record 15 strikeouts and just one walk. Sacramento State pitching held Northern Colorado to a .180 batting average over the two games while the Hornets hit .329 offensively with a 16-4 edge in scoring and a 26-11 advantage in hits.

Sacramento State has won six six straight games and has scored at least seven runs in all six wins.