LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Senior Martin Vincelli-Simard hit a pair of home runs and added a double as part of a three-hit day and the Hornets put five over the wall for the third time this season, but the Sacramento State baseball team could not out-slug host New Mexico State Saturday, falling to the Aggies by a 21-9 count in seven innings.

The loss moved the Hornets to 22-21 overall on the year and 8-12 in Western Athletic Conference play, while New Mexico State improved to 11-27 overall and 8-15 in conference. The two teams will meet in the series' rubber game on Sunday (April 30) at 11 a.m. PT.

Vincelli-Simard collected his first career two-homer game and the second by a Hornet this season after JP Smith slugged a pair against Utah Valley at home back on April 6. The senior from Quebec now has 29 for his career, placing him in a tie for fifth on the school's all-time list alongside Gabe Jacobo (2006-08) and putting him just one shy of becoming only the fifth Sacramento State player to hit 30 in a career.

Freshman Wehiwa Aloy hit his 12th of the year, breaking a tie with Justin Lamb for the most home runs hit by a freshman in the program's Division I era. Aloy's 12 home runs are just one shy of Cesar Valero's total from all of 2022 and two short of a spot on the single-season top-10 list, while teammates Garet Crenshaw (his third) and Smith (his 10th) also left the yard on the day to account for five of the team's nine runs.

Sacramento State has now hit 64 home runs as a team this season, ranking fourth on the program's single-season list and becoming the seventh Hornet squad since 1979 to reach the 60-home run plateau. This year's team has now collected the most home runs in a campaign since the 1998 team hit a record 83 round-trippers.

In addition to Vincelli-Simard's three-hit day, junior Josh Rolling finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Aloy, Smith, and Jorge Bojorquez all finished with a pair of hits as Sacramento State collected 14 total.

After spotting the Aggies two runs, it was Crenshaw's blast that got the Hornets on the board with a solo shot in the second, taking an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left center to cut the deficit in half. New Mexico State, which posted multiple runs in four of its five scoring innings, then put the game out of reach with a five spot in the second before Smith clawed one back with an RBI single in the third.

The Hornets had their biggest inning in the fifth as Aloy and Vincelli-Simard went back-to-back to lead-off the frame, followed later by RBI singles from Rolling and Bojorquez. The Aggies got two runs back in their half, but Sacramento State wasn't done as Vincelli-Simard and Smith went back-to-back to lead-off the sixth. Freshman Ryan Christiansen added an RBI ground ball later in the inning to cap the day's scoring.

It marked the third and fourth times this year that the Hornets have launched back-to-back home runs in a game this year, the second and third times Vincelli-Simard has been part of a back-to-back attack, and the second time Smith has been a part of one. Aloy's blast in the fifth and Vincelli-Simard's in the sixth marked the 13th and 14th times that a Hornet has led-off an inning with a home run.

Noah Lucchesi (3-6) suffered the loss for Sacramento State, while Noah Estella (1-1) earned the win for New Mexico State.