Box Score OREM, Utah -- Freshman right-hander Colin Hunter struck out seven without a walk over 6.2 solid innings while Dawsen Bacho and Nick Iwasa each collected a pair of hits on the day, helping lift Sacramento State to its first Western Athletic Conference series win of the year with a 5-3 victory over Utah Valley on Sunday afternoon at UCCU Ballpark in Orem, Utah.
The Hornets took 2-of-3 from the Wolverines on the weekend, improving to 13-14 overall and 5-7 in conference play thanks to Sunday's triumph, snapping a four-game skid in series finales dating back to a win at Long Beach State back on Feb. 27 that completed a sweep of the Beach.
Led by three hits from Mitch Moralez, Utah Valley fell to 9-19 overall and 3-9 in WAC play with the loss.
Hunter (2-2) was masterful in picking up his second win of the year, scattering only eight hits was surrendering a single run in his longest outing since tossing a seven-inning no-hitter in his collegiate debut against Northern Illinois back on Feb. 19. The seven strikeouts were just two short of his career high of nine set in that same game against the Huskies while the performance marked the third "quality start" of the year for the freshman.
Max Pettey got the last out of the seventh before giving way to Jack Zalasky in the eighth, who was touched for two runs on four hits over two innings, but he struck out a season-high five of the 11 batters he faced to nail down the win.
Carson Brown (0-1) suffered the loss for the Wolverines, allowing two runs on three hits, walking three, and striking out four over three innings.
A one-out walk to Jeffery Heard led to the first run of the day for Sacramento State as the freshman came around to score on Bacho's double to right field for the 1-0 lead. Dylan McPhillips then led off the Hornets' second with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Josh Rolling's sacrifice fly for a two-run advantage.
Utah Valley clawed a run back in its half of the third, but Sacramento State pulled away in the middle innings, adding a run on Jorge Bojorquez's third home run of the season down the left field line to lead off the fifth, and plating two more in the sixth when Iwasa singled to start the inning followed by Martin Vincelli-Simard's first home run of the year two batters later for the 5-1 lead.
The Wolverines cut into the deficit with a pair in the eighth against Zalasky on singles by Cole Jordan and Drew Sims to make it a two-run contest, but a ground ball ended the inning and the junior right-hander struck out the side in the ninth around a walk to end the game.
Sacramento State returns to the field on Tuesday (April 5) with a midweek road trip to Reno to take on Nevada at 4 p.m., before heading to Las Cruces, N.M., for a three-game series at New Mexico State on April 8-10.
