RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Freshman Sam Harry clubbed his fifth home run of the season to stake Sacramento State to the early lead, but host California Baptist rallied to tie it and broke a four-all tie with run in the fifth to take the lead for good en route to a 5-4 victory in a Western Athletic Conference series opener on Friday night at Totman Stadium in Riverside, Calif.
The loss put the Hornets at 22-29 overall on the season and 6-7 in WAC play, while the second-place Lancers improved to 39-11 overall and 11-5 in league action with the win.
Harry finished 2-for-4 and added an intentional walk to his stat line for the night, capitalizing on singles by Cameron Sewell and Brett Ott by leaving the yard off the batter's eye in centerfield in the second inning for a 3-0 lead.
CBU clawed all the runs back in the home half of the frame, then took the lead for the first time with a run in the third on an RBI double following a two-out walk for the 4-3 advantage.
Sacramento State drew even with a run in the top of the fifth as a double by Erick Dessens and a wild pitch put the junior 90 feet away for Jakob Poturnak, whose fielder's choice to left side was enough to bring Dessens home and tie the game.
The Lancers weren't finished, however, using back-to-back hits to lead-off the home half of the fifth and score on a one-out RBI single after the Hornets snuffed out a squeeze attempt at the plate.
A double to right by Luis Pimentel-Guerrero in the sixth and a lead-off single for Harry in the ninth accounted for the only baserunners the rest of the way for Sacramento State as California Baptist retired the 10 of the final 11 Hornet hitters, using a double play and a ground ball in the final frame to end the game.
The top three hitters in the Sacramento State lineup all finished with two hits, while Jace Jeremiah joined Sewell and Ott with singles.
Starter Ethan Lay (4-3) suffered his second straight loss, allowing five runs on 10 hits over five innings, walking one and striking out three. Junior Sean Carey kept the Hornets close with a stellar finish, not allowing a hit over three scoreless innings, striking out five of the nine batters he faced.
Michael Malki (11-0) earned the win, allowing three earned on seven hits, walking three and striking out 11. Luis Becerra allowed a hit in three innings of relief, striking out seven, before giving way to Zachary Yates in the ninth, who nailed down his sixth save of the year.
Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday evening (May 9) at 5 p.m.
