In a tied game in the bottom of the ninth inning, Sacramento State junior A.J. Nunez came to the plate with two outs and drove in pinch runner Andrew Ayers from second to give the Hornets the 7-6 victory over the UC Davis Aggies on Sunday at Hornet Field.

Sac State’s starting pitcher senior Jose Ramirez held the Aggies close with four and a third innings of two-hit ball and four walks.

“I tried to make them hit groundballs,” Ramirez said. “I tried to give them three pitches low and way and make them hit grounders.”

The Aggies led 5-3 going into the bottom of the sixth inning when Sac State junior Jake Chilton hit a two-run single to tie up the game at five.

The Hornets gained the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when Nunez hit a sacrifice fly to right field, which scored sophomore Justin Lamb making the score 6-5.

In the top-half of the eighth, the Aggies tied up the game when Seth Batty reached on a bunt single, stole second base took third on a fly out and scored on a sacrifice fly from Justin Schafer.

Going into the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied 6-6, Lamb led off with a single. Freshman Andrew Ayers was put in as a pinch-runner for Lamb. Junior Brent Hottman moved Ayers to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Nunez came up and smashed a 2-0 fastball to the left side of the infield, plating Ayers and giving the Hornets the 7-6 win.

“The last at-bat, I was just trying to get a pitch I could drive,” Nunez said. “He threw me a fastball outside. I knew he was going to throw me something hard.”

With the win the Hornets salvage the weekend series against their Causeway rivals.

“I thought we played really well today in every aspect,” head coach John Smith said. “A lot of things today were in sync for us.”

Sacramento State hosts Saint Mary’s College on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Sergio Saldana can be reached at [email protected]