Giving up three runs in the first inning and six in the fourth, the Hornets baseball team never had much of a chance to beat San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon at Hornet Field, losing 9-1.

The 107 in attendance saw the Hornets (4-6) use five different pitchers, as they looked for the right hurler versus the Dons (4-3).

“Today was a day where we wanted to give a lot of guys work,” head coach John Smith said. “We were hoping to get more mileage about of them.”

Smith had to go away from using any of his main three starters (Jeffery Groeger, Mike Miranda and Steve Cuckovich) because all three threw in San Diego over the weekend.

“This wasn’t one of our better moments,” Smith said of the loss. “The difference is that we have our three horses pitching on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but we have a pattern right now of not playing our best on Tuesdays (the day the game was originally scheduled to be played on).”

The game marked the first home game since Sac State’s Aurelio Jackson broke the career-hit record for the Hornets on Sunday in San Diego. Jackson, batting .415 on the season so far, led the Hornets with two hits in four at bats, while scoring the team’s only run in the loss.

After the three first inning runs by the Dons, the Hornets bounced back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. Jackson led off with a double over the center fielder’s head and came around to score on a groundout by senior Carlos Morales.

Sac State’s Jared Redden relieved starting pitcher Joey Robinson in the third inning and ran into some trouble in the fourth inning. He allowed three runs and left with two guys on, before being relieved by freshman Marshall Plouffe who surrendered a three-run double to Jeramy Janz, giving the Dons a 9-1 lead.

The Hornets will host San Francisco State Friday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m..