Baseball drops second straight with 5-2 loss to Redhawks

State Hornet Staff

Three early runs and the pitching of Skyler Genger were enough as the hosts, Seattle University Redhawks, held on to beat the visiting Sacramento State Hornets 5-2 Friday to take the first two games of the three-game series between the top two teams in Western Athletic Conference play.

Seattle U (14-15, 7-1 WAC) moves into sole possession of first place in the conference with the win. Sac State (17-12, 6-2 WAC) falls into second place by dropping the first two games of the series after sweeping its first two series of league play.

Genger, a junior, kept the Hornets at bay by allowing one earned run and only giving up three hits in the 7 2/3 innings he pitched to earn the win. The junior struck out seven Hornets, improved to 4-4 on the season and has earned a decision in all eight of his starts for the Redhawks.

Brennan Leitao picked up the loss for Sac State. The senior dropped to 3-2 on the season after only lasting a season-low four innings. He allowed four runs, with three of them earned, and a season-high eight hits.

“I felt fine physically,” Leitao said. “I found myself in an early jam and had to battle from the start. They’re a good, aggressive team and were able to find some holes through our infield.”

Seattle U jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a Sheldon Stober sacrifice fly in the first. The home team added two more in the bottom half of the second inning with Griffin Andreychuk’s two-out, two-run double down the left field line.

The Redhawks outhit the visitors from California by an 11-6 margin. Dalton Hurd continued his blistering start to WAC play for Seattle U by going 3-for-4, stealing two bases and scoring two runs. The 5-foot-9-inch freshman is hitting .500 through eight conference games. Kyle Moses (2-for-4, one RBI) led Sac State offensively.

Sac State was able to get on the board in the top half of the fourth inning with a Vinny Esposito RBI single. The Hornets tacked on an extra run with an eighth-inning RBI single from Moses.

After averaging more than six runs per contest in their first six conference games, Hornets’ hitters have been held in check by the Redhawks’ pitching staff. In each of the first two games of the series, Sac State scored two runs.

“Offensively, we have been scuffling,” said Sac State coach Reggie Christiansen. “It is a little [bit] of guys trying to do too much. We have to get back to putting in solid at-bats to allow ourselves the chance to compete.”

Freshman reliever Ky Dye gave up two hits but escaped trouble by striking out two Hornets to pick up the save for the Redhawks in the ninth inning.

Sac State reliever Justin Dillon pitched the final four innings for Sac State in stellar fashion by striking out eight Redhawks and only allowing one earned run.

The series concludes Saturday at noon. Sam Long (5-0, 1.73 ERA) takes the mound for Sac State, and the pitcher has yet to be announced for Seattle U.