SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Senior right-hander Ethan Lay struck out 10 over eight innings while Jakob Poturnak and Nikhil Beasley each slugged home runs on the day, helping the Sacramento State baseball team best both Mother Nature and visiting Utah Valley, 7-2, in the opener of a three-game series on Friday morning at John Smith Field.
In a contest that started at 9:30 a.m. due to the increasing threat of thunderstorms in the area, the Hornets improved to 14-21 overall and 2-2 in Western Athletic Conference play with the victory. The Wolverines, who had eight hits and stranded eight base runners on the day, fell to 14-18 overall and 0-1 in league games.
Lay (3-1) threw a season-high 123 pitches and walked only one batter on the day, but rarely labored en route to his third win of the season and his third start with at least 10 strikeouts in a game — his fourth such performance in his Sacramento State career. Earlier this year, Lay struck out a season-high 13 against Saint Joseph's back on Feb. 20 and added 11 more against Winthrop on March 19.
Senior Elijah Rogalski finished off the game with a perfect ninth, sandwiching a ground ball out in between a pair of strikeouts to nail down the win.
A pair of walks to lead-off the second helped the Hornets to their first run of the day as Jace Jeremiah and Brett Ott drew free passes before being sacrificed over by Beasley. With the infield playing in and one out, Michael Perazzo's ground ball to the right side was knocked down by the second baseman, whose only play was to first, allowing Jeremiah to score for the 1-0 lead.
Sacramento State then tacked on three in the fourth as a one-out triple by Ott into the right field corner set the table for Perazzo, who laid down a perfectly placed squeeze only to beat out a high throw to first, scoring Ott to make it 2-0
Ryan Ellis, then had the big blow in the inning dropping a double down the right field line to score both Perazzo and Beasley and make it a four-run game
Utah Valley answered with two in its half of the fifth on back-to-back two-out RBI singles, but Poturnak slugged his fourth home run of the year to right center field to get one back and Beasley capped the scoring with his first of the year — and second of his career — over the wall in right, scoring Jeremiah ahead of him for the final runs of the day.
No Hornet hitter had more than two hits on the day, but both Ellis and Beasley drew a pair of walks — the former collecting his fifth consecutive game with multiple bases on balls.
Starter Colton Kennedy (0-3) suffered the loss, allowing five runs on five hits in five innings, walking five and striking out five.
The game was to be the first of a doubleheader between the two teams on the day, with the Hornets and Wolverines scheduled to return to the field at 6 p.m. for game two, weather permitting. Updates will be posted on the team's social media accounts and HornetSports.com as they become available.
