SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Senior Tyler White's second home run of the season — a three-run blast with one out in the ninth inning — brought the Hornets back from down three to force extra innings, but visiting South Dakota State led-off the extra frame with a home run and stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning to eke out a 12-11 victory over Sacramento State in the finale of a four-game series on Saturday afternoon.
The loss snapped the Hornets' three-game winning streak as they fell to 7-5 overall, while the Jackrabbits clinched their first win of the year, improving to 1-7 following the slugfest.
Sacramento State jumped out to a quick 8-1 lead, but South Dakota State methodically clawed its way back into the contest, scoring five in the fifth, one in the sixth, and four in the eighth to completely erase the deficit and take an 11-8 lead.
After the Hornets retired the side in order in the top of the ninth, Jacob Cortez and Myles Walton were able to draw one-out walks to bring up White, who launched a 3-2 offering into the jet stream and over the wall in centerfield, tying the game at 11-all.
The excitement didn't last long as Dayton Franke sent the second pitch he saw in the 10th inning over the batter's eye in right field for the go-ahead score and Sacramento State kept it there, stranding runners at second and third after two singles.
The Hornets has one more rally in them in the home half of the 10th, but could not push across the tying run. Cameron Sewell got it started after he was hit by a 2-2 pitch and moved all the way to third following walks to Jameson Mullin and Cortez to load the bases.
After a call to the bullpen brought in Jude Sundquist as the Jackrabbits' fifth pitcher of the day, Walton was able to get to 2-2 in the count before Sundquist retired him on strikes to end the game.
Carson Latimer (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing a run on two hits and striking out a pair in his lone inning of work. Alex Clemson (1-0) earned the win in relief for SDSU despite allowing three runs on a hit, walking five, and striking out six over 2.2 innings of work.
Eight different Hornets accounted for the team's eight hits, including Jakob Poturnak, who extended his team-high hitting streak to nine games with his fourth-inning home run. White reached base safely for the 12th consecutive game, while JP Smith (10), Poturnak, and Christian Perez (nine) all extended their respective streaks.
After playing 12 games in a 16-day span, Sacramento State breaks until next weekend when it opens a three-game series against Pacific on March 7-9. Friday's opener is scheduled for 2 p.m. at John Smith Field, before the two meet at 6 p.m. in Stockton, Calif., for game two on Saturday. Sunday's finale is then scheduled for 2 p.m. in Sacramento.
A run of five games in five days continues after that as the Hornets host Nevada on Monday (March 10) at 6 p.m., before traveling to Fresno State on Tuesday (March 11) for another 6 p.m. start.
