SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento State baseball team scored four times in the final two innings and had the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth, but the Hornets could not complete the comeback as visiting UT Rio Grande Valley escaped the jam to win game two of their Western Athletic Conference series by the score of 7-5 on Saturday night at John Smith Field.
Sacramento State fell to 24-23 overall and 10-13 in league play with the defeat, first fighting off Mother Nature and the forecast which moved the contest from an originally scheduled 2 p.m. start to a 5 p.m. first pitch. The Vaqueros won for the only the third time in Sacramento in the history of the series, improving to 25-20 overall and 11-12 in conference.
Freshman JP Smith finished with a career high-tying three hits at the plate with a run scored and an RBI, collecting the sixth, three-hit game of his young career in the green and gold. In the process, the freshman extended hit hitting streak to a career-high 13 games, matching classmate Wehiwa Aloy for the longest by a Hornet this season.
Juniors Garet Crenshaw and Josh Rolling added two hits and a run scored each, while Rolling slugged his eighth home run of the season to help spark Sacramento State's late-inning rally. Jorge Bojorquez, Cesar Valero, and Jacob Cortez also drove in runs on the night.
After UTRGV opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the third, the Hornets halved the deficit with a run in the fourth as singles by Aloy and Martin Vincelli-Simard set the table for Smith, who sliced a single through the right side to score Aloy with a slide and make it a 2-1 ballgame.
The Vaqueros then broke the game open with a five-run fifth to rebuild its lead to six but, as has been a familiar refrain for the Hornets in 2023, the Sacramento State bats came through with yet another rally.
Rolling needed only two pitches to leave the yard to lead-off the eighth — the 73rd home run by a Hornet this season and the sixth straight game that the team has hit a home run. UTRGV then left the bases loaded in the ninth, leaving the door cracked for another Sacramento State rally.
Smith singled to left and gained an extra 90 feet on a misplay of the ball, quickly coming around to score on the next pitch as Cesar Valero doubled to right centerfield to make it 7-3. After a pitching change and a flyout, a one-out walk to Crenshaw put two on for pinch-hitter Jacob Cortez, who lined a single up the middle to score Valero to make it 7-4.
The Hornets then loaded the bases as Rolling's sharp liner deflected off the Vaquero pitcher and into no man's land as everyone was safe for Bojorquez, who beat out a potential double play ball to score another run and make it 7-5.
With runners on the corners and two outs, however, closer Zach Tjelmeland worked ahead of the next Hornet hitter and induced a game-ending ground ball to ice the victory.
Vaquero starter Angelo Cabral (9-1) nearly recorded the complete game, but was lifted after facing just one batter in the ninth, finishing with four runs allowed on 10 hits and striking out nine against no walks.
Tyler Stewart (0-2) was charged with the loss, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out two over 2.2 innings of work. Kevin Haynes, Jaxon Byrd, and Benjy Tucker combined to allow three hits and strike out five over the final four scoreless innings, keeping UTRGV hitters at bay to give the Sacramento State bats time to rally.
The rubber game of the series begins at Noon on Sunday (May 7) at John Smith Field.
