BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Locked in a pitcher's duel for most of the day, the Sacramento State baseball team rallied for three runs in the sixth to take its first lead of the afternoon only to have SeattleU answer with a run in the sixth and two in the seventh to take the Western Athletic Conference series finale between the two teams by a 4-3 score on Sunday at Bannerwood Baseball Park in Bellevue, Wash.
The Hornets fell to 20-20 overall and 7-11 in league play, while the Redhawks won a home series against Sacramento State for the second straight year, improving to 13-23 overall and 9-9 in conference action.
Freshman Wehiwa Aloy finished 2-for-4 with a triple (his fourth of the year) and a run scored, collecting his 21st multi-hit game of the season — the most such performances since Matt Smith and Ryan Walstad finished with the same number in 2021. Aloy's four triples are the most by a Hornet since Matt Smith finished with four in 2019.
JP Smith, Jeffery Heard, and Jacob Cortez also finished with hits on the day, with Smith and Heard crossing the plate for Sacramento State.
Both teams combined to manage just one baserunner on a walk through the first two-and-a-half innings against starters Cooper Rons for the Hornets and Luke Alwood for the Redhawks before SeattleU was finally able to scratch across a run in third thanks to a pair of singles for a 1-0 lead.
Sacramento State had a golden opportunity fall by the wayside in the fourth, loading the bases with one out, but Alwood got a strikeout and a ground ball to wriggle off the hook and maintain the one-run advantage.
The Hornets finally broke through in the sixth as Aloy led off with a triple and scored on JP Smith's RBI single to center to tie the game, then tacked on two more after loading the bases on a walk to Heard and a single by Cortez.
A ground ball to first by Garet Crenshaw was enough to break the 1-1 deadlock and Josh Rolling gave his team a two-run advantage when his ball was misplayed, allowing Heard to score to make it 3-1.
SeattleU answered with an RBI single to make it a one-run game in its half of the sixth, then took the lead for good after the stretch, cashing in a lead-off double with a two-run home run by Jackson Lind for the final 4-3 advantage.
Sacramento State could not answer as a lead-off single in the eighth was erased by a double play, and the Redhawks were able to turn two in the ninth to erase a lead-off baserunner before a ground ball ended the game.
Max Pettey (3-1) suffered his first loss of the season in relief, charged with three runs on five hits over 2.1 innings after striking out the side to start his appearance in the fifth. Rons went the first four, allowing a run on two hits and striking out five, while Jack Zalasky finished up the day, pitching 1.2 scoreless, hitless innings while striking out one.
Blake Smith (4-2) earned the win in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out four over the final three innings.
The Hornets look to get back on track with a mid-week road game at Nevada on Tuesday (April 25) at 6:30 p.m., before heading to Las Cruces, N.M., for a three-game WAC series at New Mexico State on April 28-30.
