SACRAMENTO -- Freshman Jeffery Heard slugged the first home run of his career to bring the Hornets even early on, while sophomore Jorge Bojorquez added a season-high three hits on the day, but visiting Saint Mary's put together a couple of big innings en route to an 8-2 victory over Sacramento State on Tuesday night at John Smith Field.

The Hornets suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in falling to 8-5 overall on the year. The Gaels, who had opened the season with 11 consecutive wins before suffering their first loss of the season on Sunday, improved to 12-1 overall on the season.

After having his 12-game hitting streak snapped in the series finale against Houston Baptist on Sunday, Bojorquez bounced back in a big way on Tuesday, knocking singles in the first, third, and eighth innings, to pace the offense, collecting his third multi-hit game of the season.

Saint Mary's left the yard in the first on a home run by Christian Almanza for the 1-0 lead, but Heard brought the Hornets right back in the home half of the second, lofting an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right to tie the game at one apiece. Not only was it the San Jose, Calif., native's first home run of the year, it was the freshman's first career extra base hit after collecting seven singles to that point.

The Gaels then took the lead for good with a three-run fourth on an RBI triple by Blake Mann and a two-run single by Gavin Napier for the 4-1 lead, added another on a miscue in the outfield on a Blake McDonald single in the fifth, and tacked on three more in the seventh on a two-run single by McDonald and a throwing error.

Sacramento State clawed a run back in the seventh, taking advantage of a one-out walk to Colby Lunsford to bring up Nick Iwasa with two outs, who dropped a double down the line in left to score his teammate all the way from first for the final 8-2 score.

Jackson Hulett (1-0) earned the win for Saint Mary's, allowing just two runs on six hits and striking out seven around one walk over 6.2 innings of work. Tyler Stewart (1-2) took the loss for the Hornets, allowing four runs on five hits and striking out a pair of 3.2 innings.

Sacramento State's eight-game home stand comes to a close this weekend with the start of Western Athletic Conference play as the Hornets welcome Dixie State to John Smith Field for three games. The series opens on Friday (March 11) at 6 p.m., followed by a 4 p.m. first pitch on Saturday (March 12), and a Noon start on Sunday (March 13) for the series finale.