STOCKTON, Calif. — Sacramento State scored multiple runs in every inning but one, including a game-breaking seven-run second inning, while six starters finished with multiple hits on the day, helping the Hornets to an 18-6 seven-inning win over Pacific in the series finale on Sunday at Klein Family Field in Stockton, Calif.
The 18 runs scored were the second-most by Sacramento State this season, trailing only the 21 runs scored in the finale against Saint Joseph's back on Feb. 22, while the 18 hits marked the sixth time that the Hornets have finished with double digits in that category and were also the second-highest total on the year behind the 22 in that same finale against the Hawks.
Brett Ott, Erick Dessens, Luis Pimentel-Guerrero, and Jace Jeremiah all finished with a team-high three hits on the day, combining to drive in 14 of the team's 18 runs on the afternoon. Ryan Ellis and Jakob Poturnak also had a pair of hits as eight of the nine starters finished with at least one.
Ott, finished with five of those RBI and his first career home run in the seventh while scoring five runs at the top of the order — the latter falling one short of the school's single-game record of six runs scored et by Shawn McGuire vs. Pacific on March 8, 1997.
Meanwhile, Dessens homered for the second straight game — a three-run shot in the second that was his team-best fourth of the year — and drove in four, while five Hornets finished with doubles. Jeremiah also set a new Sacramento State career high with his four RBI on the day and reached base safely for the 13th consecutive contest — the longest such streak by a Hornet this year.
Both Dessens (eight games) and Jeremiah (seven) extended lengthy hitting streaks with their performances on Sunday, while Poturnak hit safely for the sixth consecutive game and Pimentel-Guerrero extended his own streak to five.
A double by Dessens and a single by Pimentel-Guerrero in the first staked the Hornets to an early 2-0 lead and they broke the game wide-open with a big seven-run second — the most runs scored by Sacramento State in a single inning this season.
Ott made it a 3-0 game with a single before Dessens left the yard to left field, scoring both Ellis and Ott ahead of him to double the lead to 6-0. Jeremiah, Poturnak, and Jacob Cortez added RBI singles later in the inning to make it a nine-run lead and the Hornets never looked back.
Pacific scratched a run across in its half of the second, but the Hornets got the run back plus another on Jeremiah's two-run single that made it 11-1.
A three-run home run by the Tigers in the home half cut the deficit to seven, but that would be as close as the home team would get the rest of the day. Ott added an RBI double and Ellis scored another with a single in the top of the fourth and Sacramento State answered two scored by Pacific in the fifth with two in the sixth thanks to a two-out error and a bases-loaded walk.
Ott then put the exclamation point on the day in the seventh, cranking his first career home run over the wall in right centerfield to score Michael Perazzo and Poturnak ahead of him for the final 18-6 tally.
Carson Timothy (2-1) was credited with the win, while Trevor Wilson, who struck out five in three innings of work, and Colin Hunter, who struck out the side in the seventh, finished off the day.
Liam Smith (1-2) suffered the loss, charged with nine runs on nine hits and walking two over 1.2 innings.
The Hornets remain on the road to take on San Francisco on Tuesday (March 17) at 2 p.m., before coming back home to host a three-game series against Winthrop beginning Thursday (March 19) at 6 p.m. at John Smith Field.
