SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Junior right-hander Ethan Lay struck out nine over eight scoreless innings and combined with closer Kade Brown on a four-hitter on Saturday night, helping power Sacramento State to a 2-1 victory over UC Riverside at John Smith Field.
The Hornets won their fourth consecutive series and improved to 7-1-3 in weekend series this season with the victory, improving to 25-17 overall on the year. The Highlanders fell to 13-27 with the defeat.
Lay (4-2) won his second straight start and his third in the last four, allowing a single first-inning run on four hits and striking out the nine batters without a walk. He retired 12 consecutive batters at one point from the first through the fifth innings and then retired the final 10 batters he faced after Ethan Bergen broke up the run with a single in the fifth.
His nine strikeouts were the second-highest of the year for Lay, trailing only his 11-strikeout performance in a no-decision against Pacific back on March 9.
Brown came on and pitched a perfect ninth, needing only eight pitches to retire the Highlanders in order and pick up his 12th save of the year, getting a pair of fly balls around a strikeout to nail down the win. The preseason All-American hasn't allowed a run over his last 11.2 innings, posting a win and five saves over his last six appearances.
Meanwhile, the 12 saves now rank second on the school's single-season list and put him six back of second on the all-time list with 20 career saves.
A pair of singles and a sacrifice fly were enough to get UC Riverside on the board in the first inning, a lead that lasted until the third when Sacramento State was able to string hits together to take the lead for good.
Working together with two outs, the Hornets collected four straight singles from the top of their order as junior JP Smith drove in Tyler White to tie the game and was followed by Luis Pimentel-Guerrero, who singled through the left side to score Matt Masciangelo with the go-ahead run.
Those would be all the runs the Hornets would need to back Lay's gem, although they threatened to break the game wide open in the latter innings only to have the Highlanders wriggle off the hook.
White, who reached base safely for the 19th consecutive contest, finished 3-for-5 thanks to singles in each of his first three plate appearances, while Masciangelo added a pair of hits. Sacramento State was able to draw seven walks for the game — two of those intentionally issued to Smith and two more drawn by Michael Perazzo.
The Hornets go for the sweep on Sunday (April 27) with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at John Smith Field.
