MESA, Ariz. — The fourth-seeded Sacramento State baseball team will play for a Western Athletic Conference Tournament title after staving off elimination for a second-straight game, using a five-run fourth inning to break open a tie game and out-slug No. 2-seeded California Baptist by a 12-7 score on Friday night at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
The Hornets improved to 29-31 overall and advanced to face top-seeded Tarleton State in the championship game on Saturday afternoon (May 23) at 3 p.m. Sacramento State will need to defeat the Texans twice on Saturday in order to claim their fourth WAC Tournament crown and the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth.Â
It will be the second meeting of the tournament between the Hornets and Tarleton State after the Texans shut-out Sacramento State on Thursday by a 9-0 score.
With the loss, the Lancers finished the season with a 44-15 overall record.
The Hornets will be making their first appearance in the conference tournament championship game since 2019 when they defeated Grand Canyon twice to win the title and advance to the NCAA Regionals. That win capped a 6-0 finish to the tournament that year for Sacramento State, which dropped its opening-round game to Utah Valley before going on its run.
Coupled with a 5-3 victory over Utah Tech that eliminated the Trailblazers mere hours before, Friday's two victories were the team's first elimination game wins since 2022, improving to 22-9 when facing elimination at the WAC Tournament and 21-8 under Head Coach Reggie Christiansen.
The three wins are also the most for the Hornets since that 2019 season (6-1) and marked the first time that they have multiple wins in a conference tournament since going 2-2 in 2022.
Senior Ryan Ellis finished 3-for-4 and tied a school single-game record with three doubles in a game for the second time in this tournament, matching his output in a victory over Abilene Christian to kick-off the event. Jace Jeremiah, Luis Pimentel-Guerrero, and Brett Ott added two hits apiece while Jakob Poturnak slugged his 10th home run of the year in the eighth to give Sacramento State some much-needed breathing room.
The Hornets jumped out to the early lead with single runs in the first and second innings thanks to an RBI single by Jeremiah and a wild pitch with runners at the corners that plated Ott.
Back-to-back RBI singles in the third brought California Baptist even at two apiece, but Sacramento State's bats finally broke through in a big way against reliever Zachary Yates, sending nine hitters to the plate and scoring five times.
A single by Nikhil Beasley, an Ott hit by pitch, and an infield single by Sam Harry loaded the bases for Ellis, who smacked a double to right center that scored a pair for the 4-2 advantage. Erick Dessens then worked the count full against Yates before getting his pitch and driving a double to left field, scoring two more for a 6-2 advantage.Â
With two outs and a steal of third by Dessens, Pimentel-Guerrero made it a five-run lead with a single.
California Baptist stayed close, clawing two of those runs back in the home half of the fourth , but the Hornets weren't done either. A fielder's choice by Poturnak with the bases loaded traded an out for a run and Jeremiah came home on a wild pitch for a 9-4 lead, but the Lancers wouldn't go quietly.
CBU made it a two-run game in the seventh after scoring three times on back-to-back RBI hits and a deep sacrifice fly to make it 9-7, but Poturnak came up big with his only hit of the night in the eighth, clearing the wall in left center field for a three-run 450-foot blast for a 12-7 advantage.
It was his 10th home run of the year and the 23rd of his Sacramento State career.
The Hornets and Sean Carey then shut the door, retiring the Lancers in order in the eighth and stranding a pair on base after striking out the side to end the game.
Six Sacramento State arms combined to help pick up the win as Andrew Monson (3-2) earned his third victory in relief of starter Elijah Rogalski, allowing one hit and striking out three over 1.2 scoreless innings. Carey then closed out the game with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four in his second appearance of the day after he picked up the save in the win over Utah Tech.
