It is a common adage in baseball that good pitching and solid defense will win championships. 

But while Sacramento State’s pitching staff has been inconsistent all season with a 4.67 ERA, its defense has been a different story.

Coming into play, Sac State’s defense is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA for Division I baseball with a .981 fielding percentage and have committed 34 errors in 48 games.

While 34 errors might seem like a lot, of the nation’s top-three teams, which include Florida State, Baylor and South Carolina, only South Carolina is ranked in the top-10 in defense.

The nation’s No. 1 team, Florida State, is ranked 75th and has made 16 more errors than Sac State this season.

Head coach Reggie Christiansen said he has been preaching defense even before the season began.

“We did do more defense in fall, just the way we practiced,” Christiansen said. “Ultimately, it comes down to the players. I don’t know if there is a better second baseman in the country than Andrew Ayers and Scotty (Burcham) is as good as freshman shortstop on the West Coast.”

The two combined have completed 27 double plays on the season so far.

“We have come a long way from the fall,” Burcham said. “We didn’t know how we would be as a team together on the field, but we put together a pretty good defense to become what we are.”

In the outfield, the Hornets have committed four errors among eight players.

Freshman Rhys Hoskins said he knows how important defense is to this team. In the 24 games he has played in left field this season, he has committed one error.

“Defense is going to win us games,” Hoskins said. “Pitchers being able to rely on the defense behind them makes them able to make the pitches that they want. When they aren’t comfortable they don’t pitch well.”

Last season, the Hornets finished with a .969 fielding percentage and while Christiansen said he thought his team played well in the field, this season he changed his practice plan to emphasize defense more.

“If you can pitch and play defense you have a chance to be in a lot of games,” Christiansen said. “If you look a year ago, we lost 23 games by two runs or less and a lot of that had to do with defense.”

This season, however, the Hornets find themselves knocking on the door for a trip to the postseason and with the seven games they have left, Christiansen and his team knows how important defense is no matter where baseball is played.

“When you watch a little league game, the team who wins is the one that makes the fewest amount of mistakes,” Christiansen said. “I think that holds true to baseball in any level.”

Ryan Kuhn can be reached at @rskuhn