OMAHA, Neb. — Senior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero finished with a pair of hits and drove in all three of his team's runs on the day while three Sacramento State pitchers combined for 15 strikeouts on the day, but host Creighton rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth to take a 4-3 victory on Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
The Hornets moved to 11-18 overall with the loss, finishing their five-game Midwest roadtrip with a 2-3 record. The Bluejays improved to 13-12 with the win.
After an early score put the home side ahead in the second, Pimentel-Guerrero took it upon himself to give his team the lead in the third, cashing in a single by Sam Harry and an error on a ball hit by Erick Dessens with a two-out double to left that eluded a diving outfielder for a 2-1 advantage.
Sacramento State tacked on another in the eighth, again off the bat of Pimentel-Guerrero, as Harry was hit by a pitch with one out and moved to second on a walk to Dessens. Pimentel-Guerrero then found space for a ground-ball single back up the middle, scoring Harry from second to make it 3-1.
After going down in order in the eighth, the Bluejays found their winning rally in the ninth working a hit by pitch and a one-out walk to put the tying run on base. A single followed to make it a one run game and put runners on the corners, leading to a game-tying sacrifice fly. After a steal put two in scoring position, Creighton walked it off with a single through the right side.
Chase Sorlie started and struck out three over his two innings of work, allowing a run on a hit. Sean Carey followed with two scoreless innings, surrendering one hit and striking out five without a walk before giving way to Trevor Wilson (1-4), who pitched 4.2 innings — his longest outing of the year — and struck out a career-high seven, but picked up the loss.
Combined, the 15 strikeouts by the Hornet pitchers are tied for the second-most in a game this year, matching the 15 strikeouts against Saint Joseph's in game three of that series and trailing only the 18 strikeouts against the Hawks in game two of that weekend that went 12 innings.
Harry joined Pimentel-Guerrero in the multi-hit club, going 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored, while Brett Ott and Jacob Cortez added base hits.
After playing five games in a six-day span, the Hornets don't return to the field until Thursday (April 2) when they travel to St. George, Utah, to open Western Athletic Conference play against Utah Tech.
