The Sacramento State baseball team has had an up and down start to the 2014 season winning six of its first 12 games.

The Hornets, at times, have struggled in every aspect of the game but have also shown flashes of brilliance. The most notable game for Sac State was on the road against Texas A&M University where junior starting pitcher Ty Nichols took the mound as the Friday night starter in front of 4,671 people.

Nichols held the No.18 Aggies scoreless over seven innings and allowed only six hits. Sophomore closer Sutter McLoughlin followed up with two scoreless innings to earn the save. Nichols is 2-1 on the season and has a 3.50 ERA.

As impressive a win as that was, Sac State has had some poor performances both in the field and at the plate.

On Sunday, in game two of the doubleheader against the University of San Francisco, the Hornets carried a 5-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth. The Dons offense woke up and scored nine unanswered runs, only four of which were earned runs by Hornet pitchers.

Sac State had six errors in the game which led to five unearned runs. The Hornets now have 24 errors on the season. Those errors are uncharacteristic of the Hornets as they were ranked No.10 in the NCAA in fielding percentage last season.

Sac State’s hitting has also been up and down this season.

Junior first baseman Rhys Hoskins is the No.68 college prospect for this year’s draft and had a slow start to the season. Hoskins had five hits in his first 24 official at bats but had his best game against USF, Sunday, going 4-for-4 which raised his season average to .329. Hoskins has one homerun, two doubles and four RBIs on the season.

Leading the team for the Hornets offensively has been sophomore right fielder Nathan Lukes who has 17 hits out of the leadoff spot. Lukes has an on base percentage of .473 as he has taken eight walks to go along with his hit total.

Sophomore left fielder Chris Lewis, who was the Western Athletic Conference freshman of the year a season ago, has struggled at the plate this season. Lewis has batted 9-for-40 and has the third lowest average on the team amongst players who have had 35 at bats or more.

On the pitching side, the team has used a set 4-man starting rotation. Nichols and fellow junior, Brennan Leitao have headlined while freshmen, Jared Padarez and Sam Long round out the rotation. Nichols, Leitao and Long all have at least one win and the four pitchers as a whole have a cumulative ERA of 3.31.

What might be the strongest part of the team is coming out of relief. McLoughlin has closed out every game he’s been put into, earning four saves and a win on the season. His setup man, junior Alex Palsha, has dominated hitters this season throwing 12 innings and leading the team in strikeouts with 11. Palsha has even earned a 3-inning save.

Sac State has played through a tough schedule this season but have played well enough to hang with the best teams in the country. The Hornets will take the field Wednesday at Raley Field against Fresno State. First pitch starts at 6:35 p.m.

You can follow Curtis Manlapig on Twitter @CTMstatehornet