BERKELEY, Calif. — Senior Jace Jeremiah slugged his first home run as a Hornet as part of a four-run fourth inning on Friday night to help stake his team to an early lead, but four home runs by host California pushed the Golden Bears to a last at-bat 5-4 victory in the weekend series opener at Stu Gordon Stadium in Berkeley, Calif.
The loss was the second straight for Sacramento State, which fell to 3-6 overall, while the California improved to 6-3 with the walk-off win, extending its winning streak to four games.
Taking advantage of three errors in a big fourth inning for the Hornets, Sacramento State was the first on the board en route to an early lead. Brett Ott reached on a throwing error and moved up 90 extra feet on the throw before advancing to third on a fly ball for the first out of the inning. Erick Dessens then followed with a ground ball to the right side, scoring Ott for the 1-0 lead.
Another error on the infield allowed Jakob Poturnak to reach and Luis Pimentel-Guerrero was hit by a pitch to put two on for Jeremiah, who launched a 1-0 pitch off the light pole in right field for the team's first hit of the night and a 4-0 advantage.
A third error on ball hit by Cameron Sewell and a stolen base put another run in scoring position, but the Hornets were unable to capitalize in the inning.
The Golden Bears answered with a two-out solo home run in the fifth to break up the shutout bid, and they added two more in their half of the sixth on a lead-off home run and an RBI ground out to make it a one run game.
California wasn't done with the long ball, however, as they slugged another with one out in the eighth to tie the game before ending it to lead-off the ninth as Jordy Lopez curled a ball fair around the foul pole down the right field line for the game-winner.
With his 2-for-4 night, Jeremiah logged his first career multi-hit game as a Hornet while Ott and Jacob Cortez added singles on the night.
Right-hander Ethan Lay started, but earned the no-decision, charged with three runs on six hits and striking out three over six innings. Kurt Marton (1-1), the regular Saturday starter for the Hornets, suffered the loss, charged with the final two runs on three hits over the final two innings.
Cole Clark (2-0) earned the win in relief, pitching a perfect ninth.
Game two of the series will be played at John Smith Field on the campus of Sacramento State on Saturday (Feb. 28). First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
