BATON ROUGE, La. — Sophomore right-hander Carson Timothy limited No. 2 LSU to an unearned run on only five hits over six-plus innings and the Sacramento State baseball team is headed home with a series win after taking two-of-three from the Tigers following a 6-1 victory on Sunday evening at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
After posting its highest-ranked win in over 20 years with Saturday's game two triumph, the Hornets won a weekend series from a nationally ranked opponent for the first time since sweeping No. 6 Long Beach State — also on the road — in 2022.
Meanwhile, defending national champion LSU lost its first non-conference series at home since dropping 2-of-3 to Oral Roberts back in 2021, limited to just nine hits and a .136 (9-for-66) average over the last two games of the series by Sacramento State pitching.
Timothy (1-1) was a huge part of that on Sunday, carrying a shutout on just three hits into the seventh inning. He finished an out shy of completing seven full frames, striking out four without walking a hitter. After surrendering a one-out single in the first, Timothy retired nine straight Tigers at one point and would have been out of the seventh with no damage done if it wasn't for an error that prolonged the inning.
Freshman Trevor Wilson came on and picked up his third save of the year — and his second of the weekend — allowing just one hit over 2.1 scoreless innings, walking two and striking out one. He induced a fly ball to end the seventh, stranded runners at the corners in the eighth, and left a runner in scoring position in the ninth to end it.
The duo combined to strand eight LSU baserunners for the game — five of those in scoring position.
Sacramento State was first on the board for the second straight contest, plating a pair of runs in the third after going down in order in the first two innings. Orlando Cobarrubias led-off the innings with a single and freshman Sam Harry cashed in with two outs, bouncing a double off the wall in left for the 1-0 lead.
The Hornets then took advantage of a miscue to plate a second run as Erick Dessens struck out on a dropped third strike, but the throw down to first ricocheted off his helmet and bounced into short right field, allowing Harry to come all the way around and make it 2-0.
With Timothy in control, Sacramento State went on to add three more scores in the sixth for some breathing room. With two outs and nobody on base, Dessens singled to left and went to third on Jakob Poturnak's single to right centerfield, putting runners at the corners.
After a pitching change, Luis Pimentel-Guerrero was plunked by a pitch to load the bases. Another change on the mound followed, but was no more effective as Jace Jeremiah drew a five-pitch walk to drive home a run and make it a three-run contest. Michael Perazzo then came up as a pinch-hitter and rolled a single through the left side on the third pitch he saw, scoring a pair for a 5-0 advantage.
LSU broke up the shutout in the home half of the seventh, but the Hornets quickly scratched the run back in their half of the eighth. Pimentel-Guerrero walked with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. He went to third on a Jeremiah single, then scored with a perfectly executed squeeze by Perazzo for the final 6-1 score.
Jeremiah reached base for the eighth consecutive game, while Harry and Cobarrubias did so for the sixth straight contest. With his single, Cobarrubias extended his hitting streak to four straight games.
LSU starter William Schmidt (3-1) suffered the loss, allowing three earned (four overall) on four hits over 5.2 innings, striking out eight without a walk.
Sacramento State returns to John Smith Field with a flurry of home games next week, hosting UMass Lowell on Tuesday (March 10) at 6 p.m., before facing Pacific for a pair on Wednesday (March 11) and Friday (March 13) at 6 p.m. The Hornets then travel to Stockton to face the Tigers on Saturday (March 14) and Sunday (March 15).
