SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State pounded out five runs and 11 hits, receiving hits from seven different players, on the way to a 5-4 win over California on Wednesday afternoon at Levine-Fricke Field.

Coupled with last season's 3-0 home win over Cal, the Hornets have now defeated the Bears in back-to-back seasons. Today's victory came over a Cal team that had been 20-9 overall, and had just won two of three games against seventh-ranked Washington last weekend.

The Hornets (16-13 overall) have been on a roll for over a month. After beginning the season with 3-7 record, Sacramento State has gone 13-6 since that point. That includes wins in five of its last six games. The Hornets also inched above the .500 mark on the road (5-4).

Today marked the final non-league tuneup as Sacramento State will begin Big Sky Conference play later this week when the Hornets play at Idaho State in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday.

Sacramento State saw three Cal pitchers, and two of those hurlers were ineffective against the Hornets' potent offense. The Hornets never trailed, scoring once in the fifth, and twice more in the sixth and seventh innings. Starting pitchers Marissa Bertuccio and Haylei Archer both did not allow a run the first four innings, but the Hornets had little trouble with the Bears' bullpen, accounting for five runs and seven hits over the final three innings.

In reality, Sacramento State could have scored much more as the team stranded 12 runners on base. In fact, the Hornets left at least one runner on base in all seven innings, including multiple runners aboard in the first, third, fourth and sixth frames.

The Hornets got their runs on a solo homer from Lexie Webb in the fifth, RBI-singles from Lewa Day and Alondra Mejia in the sixth, and a two-run double from Day in the seventh. Day had a monster afternoon, reaching base in all five plate appearances. The leadoff hitter finished the game 3-for-3 with two walks, a double and three RBIs. The homer for Webb was her team-high 12th as she continues to zero in on Sacramento State's single-season record for home runs (18), set by Suzy Brookshire in 2018.

Sacramento State entered the bottom of the seventh with what appeared to be a comfortable 5-1 lead. However, the Bears scored three times in the seventh, including back-to-back homers from Alexis Bishop and Makena Smith. In fact, the Bears had the potential tying run on third base before Bertuccio got the final out on a fly ball to left field.

Bertuccio (11-3) picked up her 10th complete game of the season, allowing seven hits and four runs with two walks and five strikeouts over seven innings. Cal had mustered just one run and three hits through the first six innings.

Day, Mejia (2) and Nevaeh Pinon (2) each had multiple-hit games, while Webb, Carley Morfey, Nikki Barboza and Rylee Gresham also had hits. Pinon had one of the Hornets' two doubles.

The Hornets will now turn their attention to their first Big Sky opponent of the season in Idaho State. The Hornets and Bengals will play twice on Friday beginning at 12 p.m. PST, and a single game on Saturday at 11 a.m. PST.