Sacramento State baseball held up against the aggressive Stanford Cardinal on Wednesday. Stanford won the last two meetings earlier in the year, March 25 and 26, by a total of 13 runs, but the Hornets pitchers came strong on Wednesday.

In the first inning both teams were hot. Stanford freshman Brent Melville had a two run double after outfielder Michael Taylor scored an RBI single. The Hornets rallied back with three runs on four hits after sitting on two outs. Senior Jim Strombach tied the game with a two-run triple down the right field line.

Neither team was flinching, when Stanford would score a double play the Hornets would come back with a three for three inning. Sac State threw different looks at the Cardinal, going through four pitchers in nine innings. Junior John Schlager slowed things down after the three runs in the first.

Head coach John Smith to the right-handed junior Mel Cuckovich in the third. Cuckovich took out his first batter in a groundout, only to load the bases three batters later. A fly for Stanford’s Jason Castro held the runners on base with one out to go. Cuckovich got behind in the count again to Stanford’s catcher Brian Juhl, who popped up a fly on the fifth pitch, bringing in one run to end the top of the third.

Turning strong defense into strong offense, Morales fired a shot to right-center field for a double. Junior Devin Spurling got the ball down for a sacrifice bunt to advancing Morales to third. Sophomore David Flores brought Morales in with a double down the left field line, tying the game up at four runs apiece.

Juhl, batting .222 for his career and was 1-7 in Stanford’s last series against Berkeley, hit a home run into right-center field just over the fence, in the neighborhood of 340 feet. The Cardinal bats would not find much else to swing at for the remainder of the game.

“Our pitchers did a good job today to keep us in it,” Flores said. “I wasn’t impressed by Stanford. When other teams score we know how to bounce back. We just didn’t execute on bunting.” Flores was 3 for 4, posting two RBIs and one run. Flores leads Sac State’s offense, batting .338.

Sac State were getting hits into the outfield but couldn’t find the bunting game, leaving runners on base in three of the last four innings.

“The offense didn’t do as well as we wanted. The bunting game hurt us the most,” senior Jim Strombach said. Strombach was left on base in the eighth after stealing second. “In the late innings we could have been more selective. We need to pay attention to our plate discipline.”

Freshman right-hander Austin Yount gave up three straight balls in his first three pitches of the game. Yount also ended the game with three straight outs. Stanford held on after Juhl homer in the fifth, winning 5-4.

This weekend the Hornets are on a big road trip, facing conference opponent Nevada for three games. When they return they will go heads up against the second place team in the WAC, Fresno State, for three straight games at home.

“Just because they’re Stanford doesn’t mean anything. We went through a lull at the end there and our bunting game just wasn’t there,” Morales said, who hopes to make a statement this weekend at Nevada. “As far as I’m concerned we have something to prove in the WAC.”

Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]