SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State's offense needed only three big innings to put Wednesday's series opener against South Dakota State well out of reach, giving plenty of support to starter Ethan Lay, who went six superb innings to help lift the Hornets to a 14-2 victory over the Jackrabbits at John Smith Field.
Senior Tyler White finished with three hits — including his first home run of the season — and drove in a career-high five RBI on the night as Sacramento State improved to 5-4 overall on the year. Jakob Poturnak (2-for-3) and Jameson Mullin (2-for-2) also had multiple hits on the night, while the former drove in three runs.
South Dakota State, led by a pair of hits from Nolan Grawe, fell to 0-5 on the season.
Making his second start of the season, Lay (1-0) picked up his first Division I victory on the mound, allowing just one run on four hits, walking only one, and striking out three on 77 pitches. He allowed only six baserunners overall, allowing only two of those to reach second base or further.
Carson Latimer, Brady Chavez, and Baylor Sandberg then combined to close out the night, combining to allow just one run on four hits and striking out three in relief.
After the Jackrabbits struck for the first run in the top of the fourth, the Hornets rallied to take the lead in the home half, sending nine batters to the plate and scoring five times. A throwing error allowed the first run to come home on a ground ball by Christian Perez, while Luke Oyler was responsible for bringing home the second after it was ruled that the South Dakota State catcher blocked the plate on his squeeze attempt, awarding Poturnak the plate for a 2-1 lead.
The big blow in the inning came off the bat of White, whose first home run of the year cleared the wall in right for a three-run blast, scoring Oyler and Perez ahead of him for a 5-1 lead.
Luis Pimentel-Guerrero (a two-run single) and White (RBI single) accounted for the three runs in the fifth before Sacramento State pulled away with their six-run seventh — the most runs scored in a single inning this season.
The Hornets drew a pair of bases-loaded walks to score the first two runs in the frame before JP Smith's ground ball to the left side plated a third. After another walk to re-load the bases, Poturnak promptly cleared them, lacing a double to the gap in left centerfield to cap the scoring for Sacramento State.
South Dakota State added a harmless run in the eighth to finish off the night.
Jackrabbit starter Caleb Duerr (1-1) suffered the loss, allowing three earned runs (four overall) on only one hit, while walking four in three innings of work. He was the first of six hurlers on the night for South Dakota State, which walked a total of nine Hornets.
The two teams meet in game two of the series on Thursday (Feb. 27) at 2 p.m.
