Just when the Sacramento State baseball team was rolling on all cylinders today, one disastrous inning late in the game sealed the victory for the visiting Cal State Northridge Matadors. 

Hornets’ freshman relief pitcher Sutter McLoughlin had allowed just one run in eight innings of work this season until he ran into his first rough appearance in his college career. He gave up five consecutive hits and four runs, giving the Matadors a 5-3 lead with just two innings left.

“They swung the bat pretty good that inning, but defensively we fell apart a little bit,” said Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen. “That’s baseball – it happens.”

Christiansen said he wasn’t worried about McLoughlin’s poor performance today, nor did he believe this would be a long-term issue.

“He’s fine; he’s been lights out all year,” Christiansen said. “His velocity was good today but he just didn’t have his changeup and that’s about it. He has been solid for us all year, so he will bounce back.”

Hornet pitcher Tyler Hoelzen pitched a seven-pitch inning in the seventh, effortlessly retiring three straight batters. He said he doesn’t believe McLoughlin will continue to have games like today.

“He’s been having some success lately and he came in with the confidence he has had in the past. It was just one of those days,” Hoelzen said. 

Starting pitcher Brennan Leitao made his fourth start of the season, lasting six strong innings and allowing six base runners and one run across home plate. He also struck out four players and lowered his ERA to 3.81. 

Out of the 18 batters retired by Leitao, 10 hit ground balls. Despite the loss, his ground ball pitching style has excited some of his infielders.

“It’s awesome because that means I get a lot of action,” said second baseman Andrew Ayers. “If there is a guy on first, I love turning double plays. We don’t feel worried when he lets a guy on base because he can be a pitch away from getting out of the inning.”

Ayers added to his recent hot streak today with two more hits, a walk and a run. The senior second baseman has raised his season batting average to .297. 

The Matadors scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning after a sacrifice fly by shortstop Kyle Attl. The Hornets responded in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded and a wild pitch by starting pitcher Calvin Copping. 

Two more runs were added on by Sac State in the sixth inning with a double and a sacrifice grounder in the seventh by designated hitter Chris Lewis. 

After the seventh inning, the Hornets couldn’t come back and get the offense going. 

“It is what it is. That stuff will happen – that’s baseball,” Ayers said. “We just have to find a way to fight through adversity like that. You can’t do it all by yourself down by two runs, so all you can do is try to find a way on base for the next guy. We have to have that mentality so something magical might happen.”

Sac State returns to the diamond tomorrow at noon for the final game of the series.

Russell can be reached on Twitter at @PrestonSHsports