SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Michael Perazzo's perfectly placed squeeze down the third-base line was enough to score teammate Luis Pimentel-Guerrero on a sprint home from third with the winning run, helping lift the Sacramento State baseball team to a walk-off 4-3 victory over Abilene Christian on Saturday evening at John Smith Field.
The win evened the three-game series between the Hornets and the Wildcats, setting up a rubber game on Sunday morning (May 3) at 10:30 a.m. The game was originally scheduled for Noon, but was moved up due to ACU's travel plans.
Sacramento State improved to 22-26 overall and 6-5 in Western Athletic Conference play with the victory, rallying with a run in the eighth to tie the game before Perazzo's heroics in the ninth clinched the win.
Abilene Christian, which had limited the Hornets to just two hits and retired 12 straight at one point until the eighth, fell to 22-24 overall and 5-6 in league play.
A pair of unconventional runs in the first four innings staked Sacramento State to the early lead as the Hornets struck first with a single run in the second. Pimentel-Guerrero walks with one out and was still on first with two away to bring up
Jamie Mullin. His fly ball into right looked to be the final out of the inning, but the outfielder stopped, started, and fell to one knee before losing the ball in the sun.
Pimentel-Guerrero, running all the way with two outs, easily scored from first on the play for the 1-0 lead.
The Hornets added a second run in the fourth with Pimentel-Guerrero doing a lot of the work. With one out, the senior singled to left, moved to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a third wild pitch with Mullin at the plate to make it 2-0.
ACU quickly got the two runs back thanks to a two-run home run in the fifth, then went ahead for the first time thanks to a one-out RBI single that made it 3-2.
Cameron Sewell got the rally started in the eighth with a one-out single to center and moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch. After a strikeout for the second out of the inning,
Ryan Ellis snuck a 2-1 pitch under the glove of the first baseman, allowing Sewell to score from second to tie the game.
In the ninth, Pimentel-Guerrero took the second pitch he saw into the right field corner for a double and was sacrificed to third by
Jace Jeremiah. Perazzo then pinch hit for Mullin and laid down the bunt on the second pitch he saw for the game-ending single.
Pimentel-Guerrero finished 2-for-3 with three runs scored as the only Hornet with multiple hits, while five other Hornets added hits.
Freshman
Trevor Wilson (3-5) earned the win, scattering four hits over three scoreless innings of work, striking out a pair. He stranded two in scoring position in the seventh, left another on base in the eighth, and two more in scoring position in the ninth — five of the 12 runners left on base for the game for Abilene Christian.
Starter
Kurt Marton pitched well over his four innings, allowing just one hit, working around three walks, and striking out seven.
Reliever Cade McGarrh (3-4) suffered the loss, allowing the final two runs on five hits over 1.1 innings. Starter Brett Lanman struck out 10 over seven innings, allowing two runs on two hits and walking a pair.
