STANFORD, Calif. — Sacramento State outscored host Stanford 7-2 from the fourth inning on, but a 10-run Cardinal third was too big a deficit to overcome as the Hornets fell on the road by a 12-8 score on Tuesday night at Sunken Diamond.
Sacramento State, which has still won five of its last seven, fell to 18-21 overall on the year, while Stanford defeated the Hornets for the first time since 2019, snapping a two-game skid in the series while improving to 15-19 for the season.
Junior catcher Elie Kligman was the offensive catalyst for Sacramento State, finishing a triple short of the cycle as part of a 3-for-3 night, slugging his second home run of the season in the second, adding a double in the fourth, walking in the sixth, and wrapping up with a single in the eighth. He finished with a pair of runs scored and three RBI, collecting his second three-hit game in the green and gold.
Sophomore Jaxon Byrd came off the bench to finish 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, in addition to also throwing two innings on the mound, while five other Hornets finished with hits.
It was Kligman who staked the Hornets to the early lead, raking the second pitch he saw from starter Ryan Speshyock over the wall in right field for the 1-0 advantage.
That lead would be short-lived, however, as Stanford sent 14 batters to the plate and scored 10 times on 11 hits in the third — six of those going for doubles — to seize control of the game.
Sacramento State, however, would not shrink away, continuing to chip away over the next six innings to make it interesting.
A two-out walk to Jorge Bojorquez led to another run as Kligman followed with a double in the fourth, and an error to lead-off the fifth turned into a third run when Gunner Gouldsmith doubled down the right-field line to make it 10-3.
An RBI ground ball by Gouldsmith and a sacrifice fly by Tyler White in the seventh plated a pair after Cameron Sewell led-off with a single and Myles Walton reached on a fielder's choice that featured an error to cut the deficit down even further, but Stanford pulled both runs back in the home half to push the lead back to seven.
The Hornets then inched even closer with a three-run eighth as Byrd doubled to lead-off the inning and scored easily when Jose Ruiz's fly ball dove under the glove of a diving Cardinal right fielder and rolled all the way to the wall for a triple. Kligman followed three pitches later with an RBI single and Walton added an RBI single with two outs to cap the scoring.
Jasper Nelson (0-1) suffered the loss, charged with three runs on four hits and striking out three over the first two innings. Freshman Bryce Stockton had solid night in relief, throwing a pair of scoreless innings while scattering three hits and striking out three. Aiden Garza and Matthew Bachelier combined for a scoreless eighth, stranding a pair.
Kassius Thomas (1-1) earned the win in relief, allowing a pair of unearned runs on a hit and striking out one over 2.2 innings of work.
Sacramento State closes out its season-long nine-game road swing this weekend in Southern California, taking on USC on Friday (April 19) and Sunday (April 21), sandwiched around a game against Santa Clara on Saturday (April 20). The three games will be played at the OC Great Park in Irvine, Calif., with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
