BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Junior Jorge Bojorquez finished with three hits and helped spark a four-run ninth-inning rally, but Sacramento State could not complete the late comeback, falling to host SeattleU by a 10-7 score in game two of their Western Athletic Conference series on Saturday afternoon at Bannerwood Baseball Park in Bellevue, Wash.
The Hornets fell to 20-19 overall and 7-10 in league play with the loss, while the Redhawks improved to 12-23 overall and moved a game ahead of Sacramento State in the standings at 8-9 in conference play.
Bojorquez, who homered, scored twice, and drove in three runs on the day, tied his season high for hits and RBI, ending the day 3-for-5 at the plate for his 11th multi-hit game of the season. Freshman Wehiwa Aloy and Martin Vincelli-Simard finished with two hits apiece, with Vincelli-Simard adding his ninth home run of the year and Aloy collecting his team-best 20th multi-hit game of the season.
Vincelli-Simard was the first to get the Hornets on the board in the very first inning, launching a home run over the wall in left for a 1-0 lead. The blast was the 27th of his career, breaking a tie with former teammate Dawsen Bacho (2017-22) and moving into a tie for sixth on the school's all-time list with Vinny Esposito (2015-18) and Tim Wheeler (2007-09). His 128 career RBI also place him in a tie for seventh on the all-time list along with Rhys Hoskins (2012-14), Chris Kinsey (2001-03), and Terry Mayer (1970-73).
Sacramento State continued its trend of putting the ball over the wall in the third with Bojorquez's blast, as the junior's fifth of the season staked the visiting team to a 2-0 advantage.
That would be it for awhile for the Hornets as SeattleU rallied back. Kenji Suzuki got things started with an RBI single in the fourth and Trevor Antonson had the big blow in the inning with a grand slam that knocked starter Noah Lucchesi (3-5) from the game. The Redhawks added two more in the fifth and answered a Hornet run in the seventh with three of their own to take a 10-3 advantage.
The visitors would not go quietly in the ninth, making some noise with four runs to try and overcome the deficit. Isaiah Parker led-off with his first hit of the year and moved to second on Ryan Christiansen's walk to put two on for Bojorquez, who singled up the middle to drive home his third run of the game.
Following a pitching change, Aloy followed with an RBI single and both he and Bojorquez moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. Vincelli-Simard's RBI fielder's choice drove home another to make it 10-6 and JP Smith's double play ground ball for the first two outs of the inning added a run to the Hornets' tally to make it 10-7.
Sacramento State kept coming, however, as Cesar Valero was hit by a pitch and Jeffery Heard walked to put two on and force SeattleU to go to the bullpen once again. A walk to Sam Gilliam loaded the bases to bring the go-ahead run to the plate, but Kian Hogan induced a fly ball to left to nail down his first save of the year and end the game.
The two home runs on the day gave Sacramento State 56 for the season in only 39 games, surpassing last year's 58-game total (55) and posting the most in a single campaign since the 2009 squad finished with 63.
This weekend's series concludes with the rubber game on Sunday (April 23) at Noon. Junior right-hander Jasper Nelson is scheduled to take the mound for the Hornets.
