ST. GEORGE, Utah — The Sacramento State baseball team scored early then rallied late after Utah Tech scored seven unanswered to take the lead, but the Trailblazers came up with a pair of scored in the bottom of the eighth inning, lifting homestanding Utah Tech to a 9-7 victory in the Western Athletic Conference series opener against the Hornets on Friday night at Bruce Hurst Field.
The loss dropped Sacramento State to 7-10 overall and 2-2 in conference play, while the Trailblazers improved to 4-14 overall and 2-2 in league.
Sophomore JP Smith finished 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs and three RBI, slugging his 10th and 11th round-trippers of the year to help stake the Hornets to the early lead. Freshman Cameron Sewell, senior Jorge Bojorquez, and freshman Brett Ott also added a pair of hits, while senior Gunner Gouldsmith extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a game-tying two-run double.
After rain in the area pushed the first pitch back nearly an hour, Smith's first blast cleared the right field wall and drove home Sewell ahead of him in the first for a quick 2-0 lead, while sophomore Jacob Cortez made it a three-run lead, scoring Matt Masciangelo with runners at the corners and two outs.
The score stayed that way until the third when Smith left the yard for a second time — again over the right field fence — to make it 4-0, collecting his fourth multi-homer game of his career and inching closer to the all-time top 10 in the category with 25 career home runs.
Utah Tech followed with seven unanswered to take the lead in the middle innings, scoring twice in the fourth, twice in the fifth to tie the game, and three more in the sixth to take a 7-4 advantage, but the Sacramento State offense wasn't done.
Bojorquez bounced a single through the right side with one out and moved to second on Jose Ruiz's single up the middle with two outs. Ott followed with a sharp single up the middle to score Bojorquez and end the drought, flipping the lineup over for Gouldsmith with his hitting streak on the line.
The senior came through on the third pitch of his at-bat, skying a double down the left field line to plate both Ruiz and Ott, tying the game at seven apiece.
However, the Trailblazers had one more rally in them, getting back-to-back singles to lead off the innings and loading the bases with one out after a pitching change. The Hornets erased one of the runners on a successful pickoff to second base, but Utah Tech was still able to keep two runners in scoring position for Garrett Cutting, who singled through the left side to score a pair, giving his team the 9-7 lead.
Sacramento State was unable to mount any further comeback in the ninth, going down in order against closer Ryan Hardman, who collected his second save of the year.
Brady Chavez (1-1) suffered the loss in relief of starter Tyler Stewart, charged with the go-ahead run on two hits while striking out one in his inning of work. Evan Vasiliou (1-1) picked up the win despite allowing three runs on six hits, striking out four without a walk in five innings of relief.
Game two of the series is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. PT on Saturday (March 16).
