Box Score OREM, Utah -- Senior Nick Iwasa homered to lead-off the game and drove in a pair while three different Sacramento State players finished with a pair of hits as the Hornets scored six times in the first four innings and held off a late Utah Valley rally for a 7-5 victory in the series opener on Friday night at UCCU Ballpark in Orem, Utah.
Sacramento State improved to 12-13 overall and 4-6 in Western Athletic Conference play with the win, continuing their impressive unbeaten run in series openers this year at 7-0. The Wolverines fell to 8-18 overall and 2-8 in league play with the loss.
Sophomore right-hander Eli Saul (3-0) earned the win while tossing his fourth straight "quality start," allowing just two runs on seven hits and striking out six over six innings of work. Junior Jack Zalasky picked up his second save of the year, striking out two in the ninth while getting the final four outs.
Starter Coop Rust (1-4) suffered the loss for the Wolverines, allowing five earned on five hits over 3.1 innings of work.
Iwasa's blast was his first home run of the season, sending the second pitch of the game from Rust over the wall in left centerfield for the 1-0 lead. Utah Valley tied it in the home half of the first and went ahead briefly with a single run in the second before the Hornets put together a pair of big innings.
Keith Torres walked and Dylan McPhillips doubled to lead off the third for Iwasa, who drove home his second run of the night with a ground ball to the right side to knot the game at two apiece. Cesar Valero followed with a double to right to score a run and Dawsen Bacho's ground ball two batters later led to a third run in the inning, helping Sacramento State build a 4-2 lead it would not relinquish.
A pair of wild pitches in the fourth brought home two more runs for Sacramento State as Steven Moretto led off with a single, moved to second on Josh Rolling's base hit to left, and both moved up 90 feet on Torres' ground ball back to the mound.
After a walk to McPhillips loaded the bases and chased Rust from the game, a wild pitch from reliever Devin Smith scored Moretto, and another plated Rolling for a 6-2 advantage, but the Wolverines were able to work away from any further damage, getting a pair of ground balls around a walk to end the inning.
A single by Moretto plated Jorge Bojorquez, who doubles to lead off the eighth inning, for a five-run lead, but Utah Valley would not go quietly, answering with three runs in the home half of the frame to cut into the deficit. A single and double with one out set the stage for Cole Jordan, who skied a pitch into left that was deep enough to score a run, and Kyle Coburn followed with his third home run of the year over the wall in left to drive in a pair and make it a two-run contest.
Kevin Haynes relieved Max Pettey and issued a walk, giving way to Zalasky, who induced Spencer Olsen into an inning-ending fielder's choice to stop the bleeding. The Elk Grove, Calif., native then retired the side in order in the ninth, sandwiching a pair of strikeouts around a ball back to the pitcher to end the game.
Valero, Moretto, and Bojorquez, each finished with two hits on the day, while eight different Hornets collected hits. Valero's performance extended his hitting streak to 12 straight games — the longest by a Sacramento State hitter this year and the longest since Matt Smith hit in 16 straight last season — while Moretto's own hitting streak moved to eight games while tallying the 46th multi-hit game of his career to tie Torres for the most among actice Hornets.
The series continues with game two on Saturday (April 2) at 1 p.m. PT, as freshman left-hander Noah Lecchesi is scheduled to take the mound for the Hornets against Wolverine right-hander Mason Gray.
