ARLINGTON, Texas — Senior Evan Gibbons threw a gem in the opener and senior Jorge Bojorquez finished with a team-high five hits on the day as the Sacramento State baseball team split its series-opening doubleheader at UT Arlington on Friday at Clay Gould Ballpark.
The Hornets opened the day with a dominating 13-2 victory in seven innings in the opener, but the bats were held silent in the nightcap as the Mavericks posted a 5-0 victory.
Sacramento State moved to 22-26 overall and 10-13 in Western Athletic Conference play, while UT Arlington moved to 19-28 overall and 13-10 in league play with the split.
Game three of the series is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sunday (May 4) as both teams look for the series win.
GAME 1: SACRAMENTO STATE 13, UT ARLINGTON 2 (7 INN.)
Senior right-hander Evan Gibbons threw his first career complete game and the Hornets' offense came out firing on all cylinders with 18 hits for the game en route to the 13-2 run-rule win to start the day.
Gibbons (4-4) became the first Hornet to throw a complete game since Eli Saul at Grand Canyon on May 6, 2022, allowing just one earned run on two hits and working around four walks. The senior faced the minimum through three innings and didn't allow a hit until the fourth when Tyson Poiinter doubled to drive home the Mavericks' first run of the day.
Gibbons then retired nine of the final 11 hitters on the day, allowing only a sixth-inning walk and a seventh-inning double before locking down the victory.
Meanwhile, the offense gave their starter more than enough support, scoring a run in the third, three in the fourth, seven in the sixth and tacking on a pair in the seventh to invoke the run-rule. Every Sacramento State starter finished with at least one hit and five had multi-hit performances for the game, including a pair of four-hit games from Tyler White and Jorge Bojorquez, who each finished 4-for-5 with two runs scored and a pair of RBI.
White's four-hit game was his first as a Hornet while Bojorquez tied his career high for hits, giving Sacramento State two players with four hits in a game since Jeffrey Heard and Cesar Valero accomplished the feat in an 18-15 win over Pacific on May 16 of last season.
JP Smith and Cameron Sewell added a pair of hits and a home run each — Sewell's second of the year and Smith's 17th of the season — to do their part, combining to drive in five runs for the game. Smith's 17 home runs this year match Martin Vincelli-Simard's total from all of 2023 and stands tied for fourth on the single-season list while moving up to third on the career list with 31.
Senior Gunner Gouldsmith added two hits and a run driven in, while sophomore catcher Jacob Cortez extended his hitting streak to six games with a single in the seventh.
Smith's RBI single in the third broke the scoreless deadlock and the Hornets piled on with three in the fourth on run-scoring singles by Sewell and Masciangelo and a throwing error for the 4-0 advantage.
UT Arlington pulled one back in the home half of the fourth and closed to within two with a run in the fifth before Sacramento State opening the floodgates in the sixth. The Hornets sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring seven times, as White, Bojorquez, and Sewell each drove in runs while the team took advantage of a pair of throwing errors to score two more.
Smith's home run and another RBI hit fro Bojorquez then capped the scoring in the seventh.
Starter Caylon Dygert (4-3) suffered the loss for UTA, allowing five earned on 11 hits and striking out a pair over 5.0 innings of work.
GAME 2: UT ARLINGTON 5, SACRAMENTO STATE 0
Senior Gunner Gouldsmith finished with a pair of hits and sophomore Jacob Cortez extended his hitting streak to seven games, but the Hornet bats were held at bay in the nightcap, mustering only six hits in a 5-0 loss.
UT Arlington broke the scoreless deadlock in the fourth and scored single runs in each of the next four innings en route to the win as starter Zach Norris (5-5) and reliever Nicholas Robb combined on the six-hit shutout. Norris struck out seven while scattering four hits over seven innings, while Robb added a pair of strikeouts and allowed two hits in his two innings.
Junior Andrew Monson (0-1) suffered the loss, charged with the first two runs on four hits over two innings of relief.
Sacramento State had five runners reach scoring position, but the Hornets could not push them across as the Mavericks got some help thanks to three double plays in the contest.
