Sacramento State baseball (6-4) traveled to Fresno, California, to compete in one game against Fresno State (7-5) on Tuesday evening, where the men were held scoreless until the ninth inning. Their late rally wasn’t enough for a comeback and the Hornets fell to the Bulldogs by a score of 6-2.

Fresno State, the former Western Athletic Conference division rival, has had the Hornets’ number, bringing the all-time series record to 55-19 in the Bulldogs’ favor.

It did not take long for the Bulldogs to show what makes them such a tough opponent, as they jumped out to an early lead. Following a clean first inning, the trouble began for left-handed pitcher Jake Stassi with a single by Fresno State’s Aaron Arruda, followed by a bunt and a base hit.

A throwing error by third baseman Brandon Hunley allowed the first run around, which led to a sacrifice fly by Ryan Dobson and a two-run single by Taylor Temple, totaling four runs scored in the second.

Fresno State went on to add an additional run in both the fourth and the fifth inning off of a pair of solo home runs.

Sac State showed a little bit of life when Nathan Lukes began the ninth inning with a leadoff single, which was followed by a pinch hit single by Devin Lehman. Scotty Burcham hit into a fielder’s choice, moving Lukes to third as Lehman was out at second.

Coach Reggie Christiansen decided to go with another pinch hitter, plugging in PJ Floyd to bat and the switch proved to be successful with Floyd tripling to center for his first collegiate hit off of the Bulldogs’ Rickey Ramirez. The freshman also collected his first RBIs when he scored Lukes and Lehman, alleviating the damage to 6-2.

The inning quickly fizzled after Gunner Pollman struck out swinging and Cody Martin ended the game with a groundout to the Bulldogs’ shortstop.

Stassi (3.00 ERA) saw his largest workload of the season, pitching four innings and receiving his first loss of the year, bringing his record to 0-1. Although Stassi gave up five runs, only two were earned and his recovering arm handled the work without any issues.

From the offensive side, Lukes continued his hot start at the plate with two hits and a walk in four plate appearances. He also scored one of the Hornets’ two runs.

Temple led the way for the Bulldogs with two hits and two RBIs, with other notable contributions coming from designated hitter Nick Warren, who recorded two hits, two runs and batted a run in.

After five scoreless innings, Tim Borst’s performance earned him his first win of the season, bringing his record to 1-1. The Hornets didn’t find any relief facing Anthony Arias, who took over for Borst and continued to hold Sac State scoreless.

Overall, the team had a tough day at the plate, striking out 10 times with only six hits in a combined 32 at bats.

Sac State has another tough test with No. 18 UC Santa Barbara rolling into town on March 6 for a three-game series. The team will look to bounce back behind pitching ace Brennan Leitao, who will be the probable starter for the first game of the series.