Early scoring was all Sacramento State’s baseball team needed Thursday as it recorded a shutout against Utah Valley at John Smith Field.

The Hornets put up two in the second and three in the third in the 5-0 victory.

The two innings in which Sac State were about as opposite as they could be. In the second, the Hornets scored twice off of a passed ball and an error.

In the third, senior center fielder David Del Grande hit his fifth home run of the season to extend the lead to four. Senior third baseman Will Soto scored three batters later off of senior designated hitter Clay Cederquist’s sacrifice fly.

While the hitting was on par early, the pitching was outstanding.

Junior starting pitcher Brennan Leitao went six innings striking out a season high nine strikeouts. It was the first game this year that Leitao had not allowed a run.

Leitao improves to 5-3 and lowered his earned run average to 2.67.

For Utah Valley, it was quite a different story. Wolverines starting pitcher Andrew Freter lasted just 2.1 innings giving up five runs on seven hits. It was Freter’s sixth loss of the season which ranks him in the top three in the Western Athletic Conference in that category.

The relief pitchers, however, were much better, holding Sac State to only three hits the rest of the way. Patrick Wolfe and Matt Davidson combined to throw 5.2 innings of scoreless baseball.

The Hornets improved to 11-2 in the WAC and continue to sit atop the conference standings. Game two against Utah Valley is Friday at 3 p.m. at John Smith Field.