After several missed opportunities, the Sacramento State baseball team loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth inning, setting up the walk-off sacrifice bunt to win in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

The 4-3 win over UC Riverside in Game 1 marked the Hornets’ first home game victory this season. Shortstop Scotty Burcham laid down a short, slow bunt towards the pitcher as Will Soto slid into home safely. He was soon met by the rest of the team when they fled out of the dugout to celebrate.

“Before the at-bat, Reggie came up to me and told me what the plan was,” Burcham said. “I just tried to go out there and execute the plan.”

Burcham had his best offensive game of the season after going 2-4 with two RBIs – the biggest hit being the well-rehearsed walk-off bunt.

“We have been working on (bunting) a lot –especially this past week,” Burcham said. “We weren’t so good at it in Texas and we did it a lot this weekend, so it was good that we practiced.” 

Hornet starting pitcher Brennan Leitao lasted seven innings, allowing three runs while striking out three. 

Despite Leitao pitching a no-hitter into the sixth inning, he had already hit three batters and walked another while surrendering a run in the third inning. 

The Hornets led the Highlanders by at least one run until a sacrifice fly hit by Matthew Ellis scored Phil Holinsworth to tie up the game in the top of the seventh inning. 

Missed opportunities in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings stranded five total batters without the Hornets scoring a run. 

”Brennan threw really well that first game and we had a few opportunities to put the game away but didn’t,” said Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen. “Fortunately for us, we were able to cross the plate with the bunt.”

Hornet designated hitter Chris Lewis also chipped in with two hits and a walk the first game and another pair of hits in the second game. 

“We were just looking for the fastball,” Lewis said. “Get the hit and then get the next guy up to get the run in.”

The walk-off win was followed by a rallying attempt cut short in the ninth inning as the Hornets lost the second game, 7-6. 

The Hornets scored four unanswered runs after being down 7-2 in the top of the seventh inning and were just 180 feet away from tying the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.

In Friday’s home opener, Hornet pitcher Tyler Mendonca hit two batters in eight innings of work and the Game 2 loss of the doubleheader featured starting pitcher Ty Nichols beaning three Highlanders in just four innings. 

Add those to the three hit batters by Leitao, and eight total batters were struck by a Sac State pitcher just three games into the series. 

Christiansen said he wasn’t happy with his team’s recent poor pitching accuracy. 

“We are having a hard time commanding our breaking ball right now and we have been working on it,” Christiansen said. “There is no excuse for it.”

The second game was a quiet one for the Hornets until the late innings; Chirstiansen said he thought the team wasn’t playing as a unit in the first half of the game.

“They fought back when it was about the team, but in the first eight innings we had a lot of guys playing for themselves,” Christiansen said. “If we had played for the team all nine innings, we would have been able to win that game.”

Lewis said his team always tries hard to come back if they fall behind and close games like the two today showed the team’s resiliency. 

“All of our guys don’t have ‘quit’ in our minds,” Lewis said. “We play until the last out and that’s what we do. We came up short today, but we never quit.”

The Hornets (2-4) wrap up the series against UC Riverside (3-4) on Sunday at noon at John Smith Field.

Russell can be reached on Twitter at @prestonSHsports