SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jakob Poturnak homered and plated a pair while seven different Hornet hitters drove in runs on the day as the Sacramento State baseball team picked up its first-ever win over a No. 1-ranked team thanks to a 9-6 victory over UCLA in the finale of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Facing a No. 1-ranked team for the first time since 2008, the Hornets improved to 20-25 overall, scoring the most runs against the Bruins in a game all season and handing UCLA only its fourth loss of the year as the Bruins fell to 39-4.
The nine runs were the most surrendered by UCLA since it suffered a 9-5 defeat at the hands of LSU in its second game of the College World Series last season while the Bruins suffered only their second defeat in a weekend series in 2026 — the first since an 8-7 defeat against UC San Diego back on Feb. 15.
Pitching on his birthday, sophomore right-hander Carson Timothy (3-4) picked up the win, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out five over five innings of work whille freshman Trevor Wilson earned his fourth save of the season, allowing just three hits over the final 2.1 scoreless innings, striking out a pair.
Timothy has now earned a win against both the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the nation at the time of the game after he went 6.2 innings, allowing an unearned run on five hits and striking out four against then-No. 2 LSU back on March 8. Three of Wilson's four saves this year have come against those same top-ranked squads after closing the door in games two and three against the Tigers in Baton Rouge, La.
For the first time in the series, UCLA was the first to break onto the scoreboard with an RBI single in the second, but the Hornets answered right back with the first of two crooked number innings on the day, plating five in the third to take the lead for good.
Back-to-back walks to
Cameron Sewell and
Nikhil Beasley set the table for
Brett Ott, who sacrificed both into scoring position. That brought up
Sam Harry, whose ground ball to the right side was enough to score the tying run and ignite the big inning.
Ryan Ellis followed with an RBI double for the 2-1 lead and
Erick Dessens traded places with him thanks to a double of his own to make it 3-1. Poturnak then delivered the big blow, launching his seventh home run of the season — and his second of the weekend — for a 5-1 advantage.
Single runs in the fourth (sacrifice fly) and fifth (solo home run) made it a two-run game, but Ott came through with a sacrifice fly in the sixth and the Hornets put up three more runs in the seventh to make it a 9-3 game. Ellis plated the first run of the seven thanks to an error on his single in the seventh, followed by
Jace Jeremiah's RBI single, and another run-scoring base hit from Sewell.
A three-run home run by the Bruins after the stretch halved Sacramento State's lead, but Wilson stranded two to end the seventh and left a pair in scoring position — one each in the eighth and ninth — over his final two innings to nail down the victory.
Ellis and Beasley each finished with a pair of hits, with the latter walking twice to reach safely four times, while Sewell and Jeremiah had hits to extend their team-best hitting streaks to nine consecutive games. Harry also reached base safely for the 10th consecutive game after being hit by a pitch in the seventh.
Sacramento State closes out a stretch of eight consecutive games on the road on Tuesday (April 28) with a midweek game at Nevada starting a 6 p.m., before returning to Western Athletic Conference play next weekend with a three-game home series against Abilene Christian on May 1-3 at
John Smith Field.
