SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State senior left-hander Noah Lucchesi came up big in relief for the Hornets in their series win over perennial Western Athletic Conference power Grand Canyon over the weekend, helping his team to a series win over the Lopes and, as result, claiming conference pitcher of the week honors in the process on Monday.
It is the first career award for Lucchesi, who becomes the fourth Sacramento State hurler to earn weekly honors from the league office this season along with teammates Evan Gibbons on Feb. 24, Ethan Lay on March 10, and Kade Brown on April 21.
The four awards this season are the most for a Hornet pitching staff since 2018 when Tanner Dalton and Parker Brahms won two apiece.
Sacramento State's left-hander from Elk Grove, Calif., entered in the fifth inning of game two against Grand Canyon with the Lopes threatening to claw their way back into the contest, but shut down any hopes of that happening.
Lucchesi, who struck out the only batter he faced in a midweek contest against UC Davis earlier in the week, scattered just three hits over his five shutout innings of relief, walking a pair and striking out six. The five innings were a season high while the strikeouts were just one short of his career high set at Abilene Christian back on April 5. At one point, Lucchesi retired seven straight at one point and stranded five on base during his time on the mound.
Entering the week with a 5-2 record on the season, Lucchesi ranks second on the team in victories while his 21 appearances — all in relief — are also second on the staff. Over 27.1 innings, he has struck out 35 batters against only eight walks while holding opponents to a .255 average.
He is 2-1 with a pair of holds in his last seven appearances (11 innings), striking out 15 and scattering just 10 hits without a walk in that span.
Entering the final two weekends of the regular season, the Hornets (12-6 in the WAC) are holding on to first place in the WAC standings by a single game over Abilene Christian (11-7) and 1.5 games over both Grand Canyon (13-8) and Utah Valley (12-9).
Following the team's final midweek contest of the year against Nevada on Tuesday (May 6), Sacramento State travels to Utah to take on the Wolverines this weekend (May 9-11) having won five straight conference weekend series.
