A lack of run production has been the determining factor in the Sacramento State baseball team’s last two losses in as many days. Playing their third game of the River City Classic, the Hornets lost to the Utah Valley State Wolverines 7-2 Saturday, dropping their record on the season to 2-7.

Hornet coach John Smith expressed his frustrations with the team’s sudden drop-off in hitting the past two games saying, “For two days in a row we left our bats in the clubhouse.”

Utah Valley State jumped on the Hornets early in the game and had a 4-1 lead going into the top of the fourth inning. The Wolverines added another run in the fifth inning and sophomore third baseman Jace Brinkerhoff hit a two-run triple in the sixth inning.

Smith said that the Wolverines hitters were able to battle at the plate and make adjustments when they had two strikes on them.

“They got a lot of two-strike hits. They put the ball in play with two strikes ? the fact that they got base hits with two strikes is the difference in the game because we couldn’t finish them off,” Smith said. “They found places to put the ball that we didn’t.”

Over the last two games Hornet junior first baseman Gabe Jacobo has accounted for all of the team’s RBIs. Jacobo hit a two-run home run in yesterday’s ballgame and he hit a solo home run in the second inning of today’s game, his second of the season. He drove in the Hornets’ other run in the eighth when he singled home senior second baseman Tyler Watanabe.

“We need to figure out how to make an adjustment at the plate,” Smith said. “We need to do a better job of not guessing (at the plate); we’re guessing a little bit up there. We’re looking for one thing and getting something else – we’re not making adjustments.”

The Hornets will take on the UC Davis Aggies at 2 p.m. Sunday at Hornet Field, the first meeting of their three scheduled non-conference match-ups.

Andrew Eggers can be reached at [email protected]