Wild pitches prove costly as baseball drops season opener to Northridge

Wild pitches prove costly as baseball drops season opener to Northridge

State Hornet Staff

Sacramento State head coach Reggie Christiansen said he wanted the team to cut down on the amount of walked batters and wild pitches before the season started. 

The Hornets walked three batters and threw two wild pitches, which led to three earned runs in their 6-4 loss to CSU Northridge Friday afternoon at John Smith Field.

“We just made too many mistakes,” Christiansen said. “We have to be better and it cost us today.”

Northridge, 6-18 in the Big West last season, scored first in the second inning but the Hornets would quickly respond. Freshman shortstop Scotty Burcham’s double to the gap during the bottom half of the inning would tie the score 1-1.

Sophomore pitcher Hunter Greenwood took the mound to start the season and pitched six innings. He gave up four runs on six hits while striking out one and walking two batters.

Last season, Greenwood’s ERA was 10.89, but his coach said he was pleased with his first start of the year.

“He was competitive and threw a lot of first-pitch strikes,” Christiansen said. “His breaking ball is going to have to get better, though.”

With the Hornets trailing by two, first baseman Clay Cederquist, a transfer from Fresno City College, singled just past the second baseman to drive home center fielder Justin Higley to cut the deficit in half.

Cederquist finished with two hits and while he is playing with this third different team in three years, he said this is the team chemistry he wants to be a part of.

“Everyone on the team gets along and we all have the same goal in mind and that is getting to regionals,” Cederquist said. “We are not going to stop working hard until we get that goal and we have the potential to do it.”

With the Hornets trailing by one, the Matador offense woke up in the ninth inning when third baseman Brett Balkan doubled down the third base line to drive in two.

Sac State would score one more but would end the game after left fielder Andrew Ayres flied out to right field leaving the bases loaded.

Despite losing on opening day, senior second baseman Derrick Chung was proud of his team’s play.

“I thought we played pretty well, we just fell short today,” Chung said. “We have to play better. It was the first game of the season and I’m not worried about it.”

The Hornets will return to the field today to play Northridge in the second game of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Ryan Kuhn can be reached at @rskuhn