SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Senior
Jace Jeremiah finished 3-for-4 on the night, but it was his final hit that sent Sacramento State fans home happy as his bases-loaded double with two outs in the eighth broke a 5-5 tie and lifted the Hornets to an 8-5 win over first-place Tarleton State on Thursday night at
John Smith Field.
Sacramento State won its third straight game — all coming against the top two teams in the standings — in improving to 25-29 overall and 9-7 in league play. The Hornets climbed to within two games of the Texans in the standings with two to play in the regular season and moved a game ahead of both Utah Tech and Abilene Christian for sole possession of third place.
Tarleton State fell to 33-18 overall and 11-5 with the defeat.
After spotting the visitors a four-run lead after only three innings, Sacramento State began to chip away, scoring five unanswered runs to take its first lead of the game in the seventh.
An infield single by
Luis Pimentel-Guerrero was enough to score
Erick Dessens in the fourth for the team's first run of the night, and the Hornets tacked on a pair in the sixth to make it a one-run game. Jeremiah laced a double down the left field line to score
Ryan Ellis on a sprint all the way from first to make it 4-2 and a
Jakob Poturnak single to center followed two batters later and turned it into a one-run game
Sacramento State wasn't done, using two more scores in the seventh to take the lead. Dessens traded places with
Sam Harry with one out, tying the game thanks to back-to-back doubles. Ellis then wasted little time, taking the first pitch he saw through the right side to score Dessens and complete the comeback.
The Texans weren't done, however, parlaying a lead-off base runner on an error into the tying run with two outs in the eighth, setting the stage for a heart-stopping home half of the inning.
Nikhil Beasley led-off with a ringing single to center and was moved up 90 feet on a
Brett Ott sacrifice to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Dessens was intentionally walked with two outs to bring up Ellis, who worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases.
That brought up Jeremiah, who also went deep into the count before lining a double on the seventh pitch of the at-bat into the gap in left center, scoring all three runs for the final 8-5 advantage.
Right-hander
Trevor Wilson (4-5) then worked a perfect ninth in his second inning of work, getting the first out on a pitch clock violation strikeout, then inducing a line out to Poturnak at third and a fly ball to Ott in left to end the game.
Wilson was charged with an unearned run on a hit, striking out two in his two innings of relief — the fourth Hornet reliever on the night for a bullpen that scattered just two hits and struck out four over the final six innings of work.
Brendon Carter (0-1) suffered his first loss of the year, allowing the final three runs on two hits and walking two in his lone inning of work.
Jeremiah logged his fifth three-hit game of the year and his 14th multi-hit contest overall, driving in four runs for the second time this season and the first since March 15 against Pacific. Dessens added a pair of hits and three runs scored, while Ellis added a pair of walks and two runs scored.
In all, eight of the Hornets' nine starters finished with at least one hit and five different players drove in runs.
Game two of the series is scheduled for Friday night (May 15) at 6 p.m.
