RENO, Nev. — Junior Erick Dessens finished 3-for-4 with four runs scored while junior Jakob Poturnak added a double, a home run, and drove in five on the night, helping the Sacramento State offense power its way past host Nevada for a 13-7 victory on Tuesday night at Don Weir Field at Peccole Park in Reno, Nev.
The Hornets swept a pair of midweek contests from the Wolf Pack this season, adding Tuesday's result to an 11-2 victory back on April 6 at home. Sacramento State, which has won seven of its last 10, improved to 21-25 overall with the win in its penultimate midweek game of the season. With the loss, Nevada fell to 23-18 overall.
Six of the nine starters in the Hornet lineup finished with hits — five of those posting multi-hit games in the win. Dessens' three hits gave him his team-best 21st multi-hit game of the year and his 11th with three-or-more in a game.
Cameron Sewell, who added two hits on the night, and Jace Jeremiah, who was 1-for-4, each extended their respective hitting streaks to 10 straight games — the fourth and fifth double-digit hitting streaks by a Sacramento State batter this year.
It was Poturnak's three-run blast in the first inning that staked the Hornets to a 3-0 lead they would not relinquish as Luis Pimentel-Guerrero walked and Dessens singled to lead-off the inning. Sacramento State scored in six of the nine innings on the night, including multiple runs in four of those.
For Poturnak, it was his eighth home run of the season and he has now homered in each of his last three games dating back to the second game of the series against No. 1 UCLA. He becomes the second Hornet to homer in three straight this season along with Dessens, who did so from March 14-17 (twice against Pacific and once against San Francisco).
After Nevada clawed one of those runs back in the second, Poturnak added his fourth RBI with a double in the third and Jeremiah's single to center was misplayed in the outfield, allowing Poturnak to scurry home to make it a 5-1 contest.
However, the back-and-forth continued as the Wolf Pack got a solo home run from Jayve Dobie and an RBI single from Jacob Doyle to cut the deficit to two before the Hornets threatened to run away with the contest.
A Pimentel-Guerrero sacrifice fly sparked a three-run fourth that included an RBI single by Dessens and a run-scoring ground out by Jeremiah for an 8-3 advantage. Jamie Mullin then clubbed his first home run of the season — and the third of his career — to lead-off the fifth, giving the Hornets a seemingly insurmountable six-run lead.
Nevada wouldn't go quietly, however, making it a two-run game once again following a four-run home half of the fifth thanks to a pair of solo home runs and a two-run double, but the Wolf Pack could not complete the comeback. The home team had the tying run at the plate in both the fifth and seventh innings, but would score no more.
Sacramento State added a run on a wild pitch in the seventh for some breathing room, then put the game away with three more in the eighth on a Poturnak sacrifice fly, a Sewell RBI single, and a Mullin ground ball for the final 13-7 tally.
After Nevada had closed to within a pair in the fifth, the Hornet bullpen was lights out as Devin James, Baylor Sandberg, Bryce Stockton, and Ari Kligman combined to hold the Wolf Pack to just three hits over 4.1 scoreless innings, working around three walks and striking out four.
For the game, Hornet pitchers stranded 10 Nevada baserunners, seven of those in scoring position including bases loaded in the seventh.
Starter Elijah Rogalski (1-1) was awarded the win, allowing an unearned run on four hits over the first two innings, while Mahiro Tomita (1-2) suffered the loss after giving up five runs on four hits and walking three over 2.1 innings of work.
With a stretch of eight consecutive road games now behind it, Sacramento State returns to Western Athletic Conference play at home this weekend hosting Abilene Christian in a three-game series from May 1-3. Friday's opener is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start, followed by a 2 p.m. first pitch for game two on Saturday (May 2). The series finale, originally scheduled for Noon, will now begin at 10:30 a.m. to accommodate the Wildcats' travel home.
