SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jacob Cortez's RBI single to left drove home Cameron Sewell with the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and the Sacramento State baseball team held-off a late Fresno State rally in the ninth to post a 4-3 victory over the Bulldogs on Tuesday night at John Smith Field.

Winning for the fifth time in their last seven games, the Hornets improved to 14-10 overall, claiming their seventh one-run victory of the season while playing in their 11th game that has been decided by a single score. Fresno State fell to 10-14 overall with the loss.

Each team scored runs in the first two innings and the 2-2 stalemate lasted until the sixth when Sacramento State broke the deadlock. Sewell drew a walk to start the inning and moved all the way to third on a pair of wild pitches around a pop-up and an intentional walk to Elie Kligman.

The brought up Cortez, who worked the count full during his nine-pitch at bat before lining a single into left field to make it 3-2. 

Sacramento State added a much-needed insurance run in the seventh as Tyler White, who finished 2-for-4, doubled to lead-off the inning and scored on Luis Pimentel-Guerrero's single up the middle for a 4-2 advantage. The hit was Pimentel-Guerrero's third of the night, tying his Hornet career high and giving him 10 multi-hit games of the year to match Jakob Poturnak for the team lead.

Brady Chavez, who got a pair of ground balls and a pop-up in a 1-2-3 seventh, then struck out the side in the eighth to leave Fresno State down to its last three outs.

The Bulldogs rallied against Andrew Monson in the ninth, loading the bases on three consecutive singles, but the senior worked out of the jam nicely, trading a run for a much-needed double play — the third of the night for the Sacramento State defense — then inducing Justin Stransky into a game-ending ground ball to notch his first save as a Hornet.

Sean Carey (1-1) picked up the win in relief of starter Colin Hunter, allowing just two hits over his three innings of work. Hunter was touched for two runs on seven hits, but stranded seven Fresno State baserunners over the first three innings — five of those in scoring position.

Jared Galang (0-1) suffered the loss for the Bulldogs, allowing the go-ahead run on two hits, walking three and striking out two over 1.2 innings of relief.

Pimentel-Guerrero and Elie Kligman answered Fresno State's single runs in the first and second with RBI ground balls to tie the game and both contributed to a 10-hit attack for the Hornets. Sewell, with a single in the seventh, extended his team-best hitting streak to six games while Pimentel-Guerrero reached base safely for the seventh consecutive contest.

After playing 19 of their first 24 at home, the Hornets leave the state of California for competition for the first time in 2025, making the trip to Stephenville, Texas, for a three-game series against Tarleton State on March 28-30.