OREM, Utah — Michael Perazzo finished 4-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and three RBI, while Tyler White and JP Smith also drove in three apiece, backing a stellar start by Ethan Lay and helping Sacramento State even its three-game Western Athletic Conference series against Utah Valley with a 12-2 victory in seven innings on Saturday in Orem, Utah.
All nine batters in the starting lineup finished with a hit as the Hornets improved to 29-22 overall and 13-7 in league play with the win, doubling up the Wolverines in the hit column, 16-8, for the contest.
Utah Valley, which took the opener with a seven-inning win of its own on Friday night, fell to 28-23 overall and 13-10 in conference games.
Lay (5-2) won for the fourth time in his last six starts, allowing just two runs on seven hits, walking only one and striking out eight for the game. It was his seventh "quality start" of the year and the sixth time he has struck out five or more batters in a game this year.
Lucchesi then finished off the game with a dominating seventh inning, striking out the side around an infield single to nail down the victory.
Of Sacramento State's 16 hits on the day, only three went for extra bases as Perazzo and Luis Pimentel Guerrero finished with doubles and JP Smith added his 10th home run of the season. The four hits for Perazzo were a career high, surpassing the trio of three-hit games earlier this season, and gave him his 15th multi-hit game of the year.
Meanwhile, White, Pimentel-Guerrero, Smith, and Nikhil Beasley — the latter also setting a new career high at the plate — all finished with two hits, while seven of the nine Hornet hitters scored at least one run and five combined to drive in the 12 runs on the day.
After Utah Valley was the one to jumped out to the early lead in its win on Friday, Sacramento State flipped the script 24 hours later, scoring five times in the first two innings to take the advantage. Smith's round-tripper in the first scored White ahead of him for a 2-0 lead and Perazzo and White slapped RBI singles before a sacrifice fly by Jakob Poturnak in the second answered a Wolverine solo home run and put the Hornets up 5-1.
A second solo shot from Utah Valley inched the home team closer, but that would be it for one of the conference's top offenses as Lay combined to strand six baserunners during his outing — four of those in scoring position — and retired seven straight hitters at one point from the third through the fifth innings.
Following a scoreless third, the Hornets added a run in the fourth on an RBI single just inside the first base bag by White, then brought home four runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach. Perazzo had an RBI single, White plated another with a ground ball, and Pimentel-Guerrero and Poturnak followed with RBI hits for the 10-2 advantage.
Sacramento State capped the scoring with single runs in the sixth and seventh on a bunt single by Perazzo and a sacrifice fly to the wall by Smith, respectively, to invoke the run-rule.
Pimentel-Guerrero logged his team-best 21st multi-hit contest, while White collected his 20th and Smith added his 15th. White and Poturnak each extended their respective hitting streaks to seven games with Saturday's performances.
The rubber game of the series is scheduled for a Noon PT start on Sunday (May 11).
