Coming off of a three-game sweep at the hands of Arizona, the Sacramento State baseball team bounced back, as the Hornets defeated William Jessup University 6-1 Tuesday afternoon.

Sac State (9-6) starting pitcher Matt Gorgolinski allowed just one run on one hit in 5 1/3 innings, but struggled throwing strikes at some points in the game. Relief pitcher Grant Kukuk threw the remaining 3 2/3 innings, giving up no runs on no hits.

“The pitching today was okay, Grant threw the ball really really well,” said Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen. “Matt is still not throwing enough strikes, but you know what, he’ll keep getting better.”

William Jessup University (2-18) put the first run on the board in the top of the third inning with a little help from the Hornets. After a groundout to shortstop, Gorgolinski gave up back-to-back walks to put runners on first and second. Left fielder Steven Stockton then performed a sacrifice bunt to move runners to second and third. Gorgolinski threw a wild pitch and a runner scored to make it 1-0 for William Jessup.

Sac State answered back in the bottom of the fifth inning. Gunner Pollman led the inning off with a double down the left field line. Bronson Grubbs advanced Pollman to third base on a single through the left side of the infield. Trent Goodrich scored Pollman on an RBI fielder’s choice as he safely reached base on a potential double-play ball, tying the game at one after five innings.

Sac State took control of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning by scoring four runs. Andrew McWilliam led the inning off with a double down the left. Josh Egan pinch hit and drew a four-pitch walk. The following batter was Pollman, who was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.

Grubbs laid a bunt down the third base line to score pinch runner PJ Floyd. The next hitter, Goodrich, singled to shallow right field for two RBIs. Senior left fielder Chris Lewis ended the four-run inning with an RBI sacrifice fly to right field.

Sac State tacked on another another run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kody Reynolds led off the inning by drawing a four-pitch walk. Brandon Hunley pinch ran for Reynolds, stole second base and advanced to third by tagging up on a fly ball hit by Floyd. Hunley would eventually score on a fielding error by the shortstop hit by Pollman.

Trent Goodrich led the Hornet offense with a double and three RBI, while Grubbs went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Dan Deely went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. McWilliam went 2-for-4 with a double. Pollman went 1-for-3 with a double and two runs scored. Lewis added an RBI with a sac fly.

“We’re looking forward to having a couple of days of really good practice before going into the Cal Poly series against a really good opponent,” Christiansen said.

Sac State hosts a three-game series this weekend against opponent Cal Poly starting on Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m. at John Smith Field in Sacramento.