SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State baseball team will head into next week's Western Athletic Conference Tournament as the top seed and co-champions of the league after closing out the regular season with a 6-5 loss to Utah Tech on Saturday afternoon at John Smith Field.
The Hornets take a 31-24 overall record and a 15-9 finish in WAC play to Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., posting its highest win total since finishing with 32 victories in 2022 with tournament games yet to play. As the top seed, Sacramento State earns a double bye and opens tournament play on Thursday (May 22) at 12:30 p.m. PT against an opponent to be determined following the results of the first two days' games.
With the victory, the Trailblazers improved to 23-29 overall and 9-15 in WAC play, earning the final tournament spot over Seattle U.
Senior Tyler White led the was for the Hornet offense on Saturday, finishing 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored atop the lineup, extending his hitting streak to 11 games heading into the postseason in the process.
Sophomore Jakob Poturnak also added a multi-hit day, finishing 2-for-3 with a pair of runs batted in. Ryan Christiansen, who also scored a pair of runs, JP Smith, and Luis Pimentel-Guerrero added base hits as well.
It was Poturnak who got the scoring started with a two-run double in the first to stake the Hornets to the early lead, but a sacrifice fly in the third by the Trailblazers halved the lead and the visitors took their first lead of the day with a pair of RBI singles in the fifth to make it 3-2.
Sacramento State answered back to regain the advantage with a pair of scores in the home half of the fifth as White scored on a wild pitch and Christiansen scored on a throwing error following an infield single by Pimentel-Guerrero to make it 4-3. A home run in the seventh tied the game, but the Hornets rallied for the go-ahead run in the eighth, loading the bases before
Matt Masciangelo drew a five-pitch walk, scoring Smith to make it 5-4 heading into the final inning.
The lead, however, would not stand as Utah Tech came back once again, tying the score on a sacrifice fly and going ahead for good on a two-out bloop single to center.
White led-off the ninth with a single and Christiansen represented the tying run after a fielder's choice, but the Trailblazers induced Sacramento State into a game-ending double play to quash the rally.
