SACRAMENTO — Junior right-hander Tyler Stewart carried a perfect game into the sixth and finished with 6 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball on Saturday afternoon, helping lift the Sacramento State baseball team to a 9-1 victory over Seattle U and clinch its second Western Athletic Conference series win of the season.
The Hornets won for the fourth time in their last five games, improving to 17-20 overall and 8-9 in WAC play. The Redhawks fell to 8-26 overall and 3-11 in conference play.
Stewart (3-2) was masterful, throwing a career-high eight innings and facing the minimum through the first six as a hit batter broke up the perfect game bid after the first 16 hitters had been retired, but a double play quickly retired the side. He then got the first two outs of the seventh on a ground out and fly ball before Derek Gellos doubled into the left centerfield gap.
He allowed only one other hit and stranded a pair in the eighth before his day was done, finishing with five strikeouts without a walk.
Brady Chavez then finished the game, allowing the lone run on two hits in the ninth with the game well out of reach.
Sophomore catcher Jacob Cortez led Sacramento State at the plate with a season-high three hits, ending the day 3-for-4 with a run scored, a sacrifice fly, and three RBI. Five other Hornets had hits, including sophomore JP Smith, who slugged his 14th home run of the season — and his first since March 22 — while scoring twice.
A walk to Smith, a single by Cesar Valero, and another walk to Jorge Bojorquez loaded the bases for the Hornets in the second and Sacramento State plated the first run of the game on ground ball by Cameron Sewell for the 1-0 lead. A Cortez sac fly made it 2-0, and the Hornets began to roll.
Smith's home run over the left centerfield wall plated Matt Masciangelo — who doubled — ahead of him to double the lead in the third and Gunner Gouldsmith's sacrifice fly in the fourth made it a five-run game.
The Hornets loaded the bases again in the fifth — this time with two outs — thanks to three more walks before a wild pitch plated the sixth run of the day. Cortez then followed with the big hit, curving a two-run single to center, scoring Sewell and Valero for an 8-0 advantage.
Sacramento State put up its final run on a ground ball in the eighth with runners at the corners after singles by Cortez and Ryan Christiansen as Gouldsmith's chopper to the right side was enough to score Cortez for a 9-0 lead.
A triple and a ground ball pushed across Seattle's lone run in the ninth before Chavez closed out the game with another grounder.
The Hornets go for the series sweep on Sunday (April 14) with first pitch scheduled for Noon.
