SACRAMENTO — Senior Gunner Gouldsmith extended his hitting streak to 16 games while JP Smith and Cesar Valero each drove in runs on the day, but visiting Abilene Christian scored early and sailed to a 9-2 victory in game two of their Western Athletic Conference series at a rainy John Smith Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Hornets fell to 10-13 overall and 4-4 in league play, while the Wildcats improved to 14-10 and 5-3 in conference. The rubber game of the series will be played on Sunday (March 24) with first pitch now scheduled for 10:30 a.m. instead of the originally scheduled 11 a.m. to accommodate ACU's travel.
Gouldsmith, who reached on an infield single in the third and added another base hit in the sixth, extended his team-best hitting streak to 16 games, matching teammate JP Smith's hit streak from last season and tying for the ninth-longest recorded streak in school history. The longest streak is held by Jesse Schmidt, who had a hit in 24 consecutive games from March 11 to April 22, 2003.
The Wildcats sent 10 batters to plate in a five-run second inning then tacked on two more runs in the third to put the Hornets in an early hole.
Sacramento State responded with two runs in the sixth to break up the shutout bid as Gouldsmith's single sparked a run of four-straight hits to get the Hornets on the board. Brett Ott followed with a single to center to move Gouldsmith up 90 feet for Smith, who sharply rolled a single through the left side to score the Hornets' first run of the game.
Valero then followed suit, but sent the ball the other way, smacking a single through the right side to score Ott from second and cut into the ACU lead.
That would be it for the Hornet bats, however, despite racking up 11 hits on the day — the seventh time in the last nine games that they have posted double-digit hits.
Abilene Christian answered and got both runs back in the eighth en route to the victory, finishing with 13 hits of their own.
Iain Campa (4-1) got the win for the Wildcats, allowing four hits and striking out four over five shutout innings, while Evan Gibbons (0-3) suffered the loss, allowing four earned on six hits and striking out a pair over 1.1 innings of work.
