In its first game of the fifth annual River City Classic, the Sacramento State baseball team dismantled Brigham Young University Thursday afternoon at Hornet Field, 16-2. The Hornets improved their season record to 2-5, while the Cougars dropped to 5-6.

The River City Classic is a four-game round-robin tournament played at Sac State and UC Davis. Other participants this year are San Jose State, the University of Portland and Utah Valley State.

Sac State took an early lead in the first inning when senior right fielder Ryan Blair hit a solo home run, his second of the season. The Hornets have now scored in the first inning in five of their first seven games this season.

Leading by a score of 4-0 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Hornets exploded for 12 runs as they batted around the line-up. Junior second baseman Hunter Martinez led the inning off by getting hit in the head by a breaking ball. Martinez scored twice in the inning, and both times he was driven in by senior third baseman David Flores.

Flores hit a single and a double and collected three RBIs in two at-bats during the long inning.

In six scoreless innings, junior Hornet starting pitcher Jose Ramirez earned the win – giving up four hits while striking out six. He improved his record to 1-1 on the season.

“Since game one we’ve been hitting,” said junior shortstop Blake Crosby. “It was big to see our pitching step up today. Jose (Ramirez) did a great job – he was outstanding.”

The Hornets have managed to score 54 runs in seven games while the pitching staff has given up 62 runs this season. The team scored 19 runs in a three-game series last weekend against the No. 1-ranked Arizona Wildcats in Tucson, but did not manage a victory.

“On any level you play at, it’s pitching and defense (that is important). As long as we have that we’re going to be fine because we’re going to hit,” Crosby said. “We can hit with anybody in the country.”

The Hornets will take on the Portland Pilots at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Hornet Field.

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]