The Hornet baseball team swept the Hawaii Rainbows in a WAC conference doubleheader Saturday by scores of 6-4 and 5-2. Sac State is now enjoying a four-game winning streak as its record improved to 4-3 in conference play and 9-14 overall. The two losses Saturday dropped the Rainbows’ conference record to 2-5 and 9-18 overall.

“We had a nice little meeting like a week ago talking about teamwork, how we need to be as one and not play as individuals,” senior second baseman Taylor Watanabe said. “And ever since then we’ve just been on a roll.”

In the bottom of the first inning of the first game, Hornets sophomore center fielder Tim Wheeler hit a laser beam over the right field fence for a grand slam, his first home run of the season.

Trailing by 4-0 heading into the top of the fourth inning, the Rainbows scored a run when sophomore first baseman Kevin Macdonald hit an RBI single up the middle.

Sac State and Hawaii exchanged runs in the sixth inning on RBI singles, making the score 5-2. Hawaii would add a run in both the eighth and ninth innings to try and narrow the gap, but it was not enough to get by the Hornets.

Hornet sophomore starting pitcher Trevor York pitched seven innings, allowing three runs, and was credited with the win, improving his record to 1-4.

The Rainbows jumped out to an early lead in game two of the doubleheader, scoring a run in the top of the first inning. The Hornets came right back and scored a run in the bottom of the second to even the score at 1-1.

Taking a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, Sac State’s junior first baseman Gabe Jacobo hit a three-run blast over the fence in left-center field, his fifth home run of the season. It was all that the Hornets needed, as they went on to win 5-2 after Hawaii added one run in the top of the sixth inning.

Wheeler had an outstanding day at the plate, going a combined 5 for 8 with four RBIs and four runs scored in the two games. He hit the grand slam and two singles in the first game, then followed that up with a double and triple in the second game.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Watanabe said. “I always tell Tim, you know he reminds me of (Cleveland Indian’s center fielder) Grady Sizemore because he’s got all the tools.”

“He came up in a couple of situations yesterday and he wasn’t successful, but he didn’t let it bother him and carry over into today,” Hornet coach John Smith said. “Today he was intent on being more successful and he’s got things going his way.”

During their four-game winning streak, the Hornet pitching staff has allowed only 11 runs, an average of less than three per game. In Sac State’s first 19 games this season the pitching staff allowed 152 runs, an average of eight runs per game.

“I think the key to the whole deal is that (the pitchers) are starting to believe in themselves as much as (the coaching staff) believes in them,” Smith said. “Our stable is building up to the point to where we have enough guys in our bullpen that we trust to bring in certain situations.”

The Hornets will try to win their fifth consecutive game at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Hornet Field as they go for the series sweep against Hawaii.

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]