SACRAMENTO -- Caroline Evans threw a one-hit shutout, and helped her own cause with a double and two RBIs to lead the Hornets to an 8-0 victory over San Jose State. The game was stopped after the Hornets scored five times in the fifth to enforce the eight-run mercy rule.

The victory allowed Sacramento State to complete the season-opening, three-day NorCal Kickoff with a 3-1 record. That included wins over Saint Mary's and Utah Valley.

In today's game, Evans retired the first 11 Spartan batters in succession, striking out seven over that span. In five innings, she faced just 16 batters and her only blemish was a clean single up the middle with two outs in the fourth. She threw just 53 pitches while walking none and striking out eight batters.

Evans also went 1-for-2 with a run, double and two RBIs, and was part of a Hornet offensive attack that finished with eight hits. Catcher Katie Marsh continued to rake, finishing 2-for-3 with a run, double, triple and an RBI. She is now hitting .636 (7-for-11) in the early going with four runs, five extra base hits, five RBIs and a massive 1.545 slugging percentage.

Seven different Hornets had hits as they scored once in the third, twice in the fourth, and five times in the fifth. Besides Evans and Marsh, Lafulafu Malepeai, Andrea Lira, Erin Garcia, Jazzy Fines and Gwen Ludwig all had hits.

Highlighting Sacramento State's scoring was a Marsh RBI-double in the third, an Evans RBI-double in the fourth, a successful double steal scoring Addy Buckley in the fourth, a successful Malepeai squeeze bunt scoring Marsh in the fifth, and bases loaded walks to both Evans and Fines in the fifth.

In the circle, Evans is now 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA. She has struck out 18 batters with just three walks over 11.0 innings pitched. Lira has now hit safely in all four games this season.

Sacramento State is back in action next week when it plays six games in Honolulu over three days (Thursday-Saturday). The Hornets open with Utah Tech and CSU Bakersfield on Thursday.