Although it was a mere formality, Sacramento State all but lost the chance to raise the cup before April even rolled around.

The Causeway Cup — a trophy given to the team that earns more points than the other through a variety of sports — was all but Davis’s by the time it took the field for its baseball game on Friday against Sac State.

Entering Friday’s game, Davis had 52.00 points to Sac State’s 29.75. Since there are only a possible 105 points to be earned, the team that reaches 53.00 points first wins the cup.

Causeway Cup or not, the Hornets had something to prove versus Davis on Sunday and prove it they did.

Sac State (9-19-1) beat Davis (16-11) on Sunday afternoon at Hornet Field, 9-7, after being down four runs to start the game. It was a redeeming win for the Hornets after they had lost the previous four games against their cross-Causeway rivals.

In just the second inning, the Aggies struck first, scoring two runs in each of the second and third innings.

The Hornets would launch a comeback the very next inning, turning away the reoccurring trend of not being able to score many runs against Davis pitching.

In the bottom of the third, after center fielder Travis Kassebaum got on base, right fielder Jim Strombach sent him home with an RBI double, giving the Hornets their first run of the game.

In the Hornets’ next turn at-bat, second baseman Taylor Watanabe provided a much-needed spark for the Hornet offense, smacking an RBI double to right-center field, scoring Brett Flowers. Watanabe promptly scored after Oliver committed a costly error at shortstop, allowing the Hornets to cut the deficit to just one run. A subsequent error by Davis allowed third baseman Brian Sinacori to score, tying the game up at four runs apiece.

Watanabe hasn’t played much for the Hornets this season, but a solid series offensively and defensively this weekend against Davis will give head coach John Smith the ability to use him in more and more situations.

“The coaches told me to be ready to come in and produce when I got the opportunity,” Watanabe said. “I got a chance and I got it done.”

Hornet catcher Matt Wilson put the Hornets ahead for the first time in the game with his second home run of the season, a shot to left field that gave the Hornets a 5-4 lead.

The Aggies tied the game back up in the top of the sixth when David Huffman scored on Oliver’s infield single.

The Hornets put the game away in the bottom half of the inning with some timely hitting.Shortstop Everet Rincon singled up the middle on a hit-and-run play, scoring Sinacori.

After a sacrifice fly by Wilson plated another run, pinch hitter Mick Joyce opened the game up with a two-run double to left-center, giving the Hornets a 9-5 lead.

“We’ve been working real hard on hitting and it’s finally paying off,” Smith said. “It was nice to be down four runs and then have the ability to come all the way back to win the game.”

After a couple of runs from the Aggies late in the game, Warren Rosebrock came on for the Hornets and got the save, giving Sac State a 9-7 win over their rival from Yolo county.

The Hornets’ next home game is on April 7 against Hawaii-Hilo at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

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Josh Cadji can be reached at [email protected]