Sacramento State’s bullpen might be short handed, but it got the job done Friday afternoon at John Smith Field.

Despite giving up a pair of runs in the seventh and eighth innings, the Hornets held on for a 3-2 victory over Texas State University, moving them into a tie for third place in the Western Athletic Conference.

Since the start of the season, injuries to Dallas Chadwick, Justin Dillion, and Shea Lukes have forced head coach Reggie Christiansen to rely heavily on senior relief pitchers Brandon Creel and Tyler Hoelzen.

This season, both pitchers have appeared in more than half of the games played and have a combined 3.16 ERA.

“Creel and Hoelzen have done such a good job that we feel comfortable going with those guys,” Christiansen said. 

Although the Hornets have a small bullpen, Christiansen is confident that if his starting pitching staff can last at least six solid innings per game, then they have a good chance to win.

Sophomore starting pitcher Ty Nichols proved his coach right, lasting six innings and giving up no runs on four hits and striking out three Bobcat batters.

“I was able to control my fastball to get a lot of ground balls and weak fly balls,” Nichols said. 

Nichols was taken out after 74 pitches because he said he was becoming fatigued from flu-like symptoms.

“I could feel it in my body,” Nichols said. “I told coach and he took me out after six (innings).”

Six innings were all Nichols needed for the win. The Hornets offense came to life with three runs in the third inning when sophomore first baseman Rhys Hoskins singled in freshman Nathan Lukes for his 13th RBI of the season. Two batters later, two more Hornets scored on an error by Texas State second baseman J.D. Stinnett.

Sac State had a chance to extend its lead in the sixth inning when Lukes attempted to score from third base on a wild pitch by the Bobcats, but was tagged out at the plate.

Lukes finished with a game-high three hits and improved his batting average to .282. 

“(Nathan) has been outstanding,” Christiansen said. “He is a walk-on and he has completely bought into what we are trying to do.”

Christiansen said his hitting coach, Steve Holm, has been bugging him to move Lukes up in the lineup and it certainly paid off. 

The Hornets return to the field this afternoon for the second game of the series as Tanner Mendonca takes the mound. Mendonca usually pitches on Sundays, but Christiansen wanted to give Brennan Leitao an extra day’s rest. 

First pitch is at 1 p.m.

Ryan can be reached on Twitter at @rskuhn