SACRAMENTO — Junior right-hander Tyler Stewart allowed just one run over six innings of work and the Sacramento State offense backed him up with 16 hits on the day as the Hornets opened a three-game Western Athletic Conference series with an 11-2 win over Abilene Christian on Friday afternoon at John Smith Field.
Sacramento State improved to 10-12 overall and 4-3 in league play with the victory, winning the series opener for the second time in three conference series this season. The Wildcats fell to 13-10 overall and 4-3 in conference play.
Stewart (2-1) earned the win with his second "quality start" of the year, shutting Abilene Christian out for the first five innings while scattering only two hits before the Wildcats were able to scratch across their first run of the game in the sixth. He worked around five early walks and struck out a pair, stranding five baserunners — including three of those in scoring position.
Sophomore Xavier Richards and junior Andrew Monson then closed things out, allowing just one run on four hits over the final three innings.
Part of the Hornets' 16-hit attack were three home runs on the day as sophomore
JP Smith slugged a pair — his 12th and 13th of the season — and senior
Cesar Valero added his fifth of the year to help power the offense.
Smith entered the day ranked No. 8 in the NCAA in home runs and stands just one shy of last year's total (14). His 27 career home runs are now tied for eighth on the school's all-time list just behind Valero, whose long ball was the 28th of his career, breaking the tie with Smith, Vinny Esposito (2015-18), and Tim Wheeler (2007-09) and moving into sole possession of seventh on the school's all-time list.
Every Sacramento State starter finished with at least one hit as Smith and Valero were among a group of six Hornets with multiple hits on the day. Senior
Gunner Gouldsmith led the way with a 3-for-5 day in the lead-off spot, extending his hitting streak to 15 games — which ranks tied for the 15th-longest recorded streak in school history. Freshman
Brett Ott added a team-high three runs scored to go with his 2-for-3 day at the plate.
Both sides traded zeroes for the first two innings before Sacramento State was the first on the board. A walk to
Brett Ott, a stolen base, and a single by Gouldsmith put runners on the corners for
Matt Masciangelo, whose ground ball to the first base bag was enough to score Ott for the 1-0 lead.
Valero then left the year with one out in the fourth to double the lead before the Hornets opened the floodgates with back-to-back three-run innings in the fifth and sixth. Smith's first home run of the day — a two-run shot to left — scored Ott ahead of him for a 4-0 advantage and
Cameron Sewell added an RBI single to score
Elie Kligman to make it a five-run lead.
After ACU got on the board in the top of the sixth with a home run of its own, Masciangelo's infield single with runners at the corners quickly got the run back and a throwing error on a double steal allowed another to come home for a 7-1 lead. Kligman added an RBI single two batters later to make it an 8-1 game and the rout was on.
A quiet seventh led to a loud eighth as the Wildcats got a lead-off double and cashed him in two batters later for their second run of the game, but Sacramento State responded with a third, three-run inning — all coming with two outs. Smith crushed his second home run of the day off the parking structure in left and three straight walks loaded the bases for
Jorge Bojorquez, whose single to center plated two for the final 11-2 advantage.
Monson then came on and stranded a pair in the ninth, getting a strikeout and a pair of fly balls to end the game.
The Hornets reached double-digit runs for the fifth time this season while collecting double-digit hits for the sixth time in their last eight games. Sacramento State also swiped a season-high six bases on the day — the most since the Hornets stole six against Pacific on Feb. 23, 2019.
With the possibility of rain in the forecast, the second game of the series scheduled for Saturday (March 23) at 7 p.m., will now begin at 1 p.m. Due to conflicting home events on campus, there will be no live video stream of the game.Â
