RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The Sacramento State offense slugged four solo home runs and took a lead late in Friday night's contest at Western Athletic Conference rival California Baptist, but a pair of big innings by the Lancers was enough for a come-from-behind 9-7 victory over the Hornets in Riverside, Calif.
The loss evened Sacramento State's record at 25-25 overall, but dropped the Hornets to 10-15 in league play in a tight race for a coveted league tournament berth. They currently stand two games out of the eighth and final tournament spot with five conference games remaining.
Friday's four home runs — the seventh time this season that Sacramento State has hit at least four home runs in a single contest — gave the Hornets 78 for the season, moving this year's team into second place on the program's single-season list and putting them just five back of the 1998 squad (83) for the record.
With the win, California Baptist improved to 27-23 overall and stands in a tie for fourth with a 14-11 league mark.
Junior Josh Rolling led Sacramento State with a 3-for-4 night at the plate, slugging his career-best ninth home run of the season and adding a double while scoring twice. Wehiwa Aloy, Martin Vincelli-Simard, and JP Smith all added a pair of hits as the Hornets out-hit CBU, 12-9, for the game.
Back-to-back home runs by Vincelli-Simard and Smith in the first inning staked Sacramento State to the early 2-0 lead, and an infield single by Cesar Valero and a Rolling double set the table for Aloy, who laced a two-run single to make it a 4-0 advantage in the second.
The home run by Vincelli-Simard was his 14th of the season and the 32nd of his career, putting him three shy of Harvey Hargrove's career mark of 35 from 1995-97 and tied for ninth on the single-season list with five other players — most recently Gabe Jacobo in 2007. The 14 home runs are the most for a Hornet since Tim Wheeler slugged 18 in 2009.
Meanwhile, the blast was Smith's 11th of the year, tying him with Justin Lamb (2009) for second among freshmen in the program's Division I history and extending his personal hitting streak to 16 consecutive games — tied for the ninth longest according to available records in school history and the longest since Matt Smith's 16 game run in 2021.
California Baptist wasted little time in answering, putting up five runs in the bottom of the second for a 5-4 advantage, but were held in check over the next four innings, limited to just two hits in that span as Sacramento State rallied again.
Limited to just one hit in that same span themselves, the Hornets scored twice in the seventh to regain the lead. Rolling launched his home run with one out in the inning to tie the game and Smith went the other way for a single after Aloy and Vincelli-Simard had reached to bring home the go-ahead run and a 6-5 advantage.
However, another big inning after the stretch put the home team ahead for good as the Lancers got an RBI single by Michael Carpentier to tie it and Josh Paino slugged a three-run home run — his second blast of the night — for a 9-6 lead.
Sophomore Jeffery Heard led-off the Sacramento State eighth with his ninth home run of the year, but the Hornets could manage just a one-out single the rest of the way as CBU got the final five outs to end the game.
The two teams meet in the second game of the series on Saturday evening (May 13) at 5 p.m.
