A fifth-inning solo home run from Brock Carpenter and the pitching of Tarik Skubal were enough as the hosting Seattle University Redhawks took game three by a final of 2-1 to sweep the series versus the visiting Sacramento State Hornets today.

Sam Long (5-1, 1.85 ERA) suffered his first loss of the season for Sac State (17-13, 6-3 WAC). The sophomore only allowed two hits on the day. Unfortunately, his first pitch of the fifth inning was a slightly elevated fastball, which Carpenter was able to drive over the wall in left field.

“I gave it my all,” Long said. “After the first inning, coach (Steve) Holm challenged someone to create a spark. I felt I did that. Losing like that is just baseball.”

Skubal continued a stretch of dominant pitching for the Redhawks. The southpaw freshman was hardly threatened, as he coasted through 6 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and one earned run, striking out four Hornets.

Seattle U (15-15, 8-1 WAC) allowed a total of five runs in the three-game series. The Redhawks have won eight straight contests to move into sole possession of first place in the WAC. The three consecutive defeats dropped Sac State to third place with a lot of schedule still to be played.

For the third consecutive game, Seattle U jumped on the visitors from Sacramento with a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Dalton Hurd stole second and third after reaching on a fielder’s choice. He was later brought in by a sacrifice fly to right field by Brian Olson to give the Redhawks the early advantage.

In a pitchers’ duel with little offense, the Hornets outhit the Redhawks 4-2. Nathan Lukes, Kyle Moses, Vinny Esposito and Gunner Pollman recorded hits for Sac State. Carpenter’s home run was the only extra base hit of the game for either team. Griffin Andreychuk’s single to lead off the game was the only other hit for Seattle U.

Esposito’s slow dribbler to the right side of the infield tied the game at 1-1. Hornets’ junior Chris Lewis was on second base and alertly rounded third to score as he saw that the catcher was backing up first base.

Ted Hammond was one of three Redhawks’ relievers to hold the victory for Seattle U. His 2/3 of an inning gave him his second save of the season. Tyler Beardsley pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out one to round out the pitching for Sac State.

A leadoff walk to Dane Fujinaka in the ninth inning and a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Brandon Hunley gave the Hornets one last chance. Hammond killed the potential rally by getting pinch-hitter Ryan Locke to fly out and pinch-hitter Cody Martin to ground out to end the threat and preserve the sweep for the home team.

Sac State’s next game is away Tuesday at rival UC Davis.