SACRAMENTO -- Madi Mendoza combined for six hits, and Lafulafu Malepeai clubbed two more homers as Sacramento State split a doubleheader vs. Montana on Friday at Shea Stadium. The Grizzlies won the first game, 9-6, before the Hornets stormed back to take the nightcap, 9-3.

Both teams dealt with precipitation a good portion of the day, which included an hour and 27 minute rain delay in the sixth inning of Game 1.

Montana's win in the first game snapped a 14-game overall losing streak against Sacramento State, and a 10-game losing streak at Shea Stadium. In fact, the Hornets lost at home to the Griz for the first time since 2017. Entering today's games, Sacramento State had been 32-6 against Montana, and 14-2 at home.

The Hornets moved their record to 25-15 overall and 4-4 in the Big Sky Conference, while Montana is now 15-25 and 5-3 in league. In all three of its Big Sky series thus far, Sacramento State has lost the first game before coming back to take the second game. The Hornets and Griz will play the rubber game of the series tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Malepeai hit a homer in both games, extended her hitting streak to 13 games, and extended her streak of reaching base safely to 23 straight games. She homered in consecutive at-bats, clubbing a solo homer in the seventh inning of Game 1, before crushing a 3-run homer in the first inning of Game 2. Malepeai now has a Big Sky-leading 15 home runs, which is three shy of Sacramento State's single-season record.

The Game 2 homer from Malepeai kick started a Sacramento State offense that would put up crooked numbers in the first (3), second (2) and fourth (4) innings. The Hornets also rode the arm of Kennedie Bacon (7-5), who went the distance while allowing nine hits and three runs with a pair of strikeouts. The right-hander threw just 89 pitches while notching her seventh complete game of the season.

Mendoza was brilliant all day, notching three hits in both games, and finishing the day 6-for-8 with five runs, three doubles and an RBI. She also made a handful of impressive defensive plays. Malepeai, Shannon Garcia and Madison Evers-Lyles all combined for three hits while Faith Epperson, Malissa George and Saskia Raab had a pair of hits.

In Game 2, six different Hornets had RBIs, led by Malepeai's four. In the Hornets' two-run second inning, Mendoza had an RBI-double, followed by a Malepeai RBI-single. The four-run fourth included RBI-singles from Epperson, Evers-Lyles and Garcia, as well as an RBI-ground ball from Raab.

In Game 1, Garcia had a big day, going 2-for-4 with a run, homer and three RBIs. A Garcia RBI-single gave the Hornets a 2-1 lead in the fourth, but Montana scored seven times in the fifth, which included three home runs in the inning. After the lengthy rain delay, Sacramento State did score three in the sixth (highlighted by a two-run homer from Garcia) and one in the seventh (homer from Malepeai) but it was nearly enough against a Montana offensive attack that was highlighted by a grand slam from No. 9 hitter Brianna Gutierrez in the fifth.

The Hornets used three pitchers in the opener, highlighted by Kyndal Williams' two innings of one-hit relief work.