Following Justin Dillon’s historic no-hitter Thursday, the Sacramento State baseball team continued its knack for dramatic endings after a walk-off 6-5 win over Northern Kentucky Friday at John Smith Field.
The win came as a result of a two-out rally in the 11th inning, where senior shortstop Trent Goodrich tied the game with an RBI single, followed by a base hit from junior center fielder Ian Dawkins to end the game.
“My only goal in that at-bat was to put the ball in play,” Dawkins said. “I know (Northern Kentucky’s) defense had made a few errors earlier in the game — last night they did as well — put pressure on the defense and see what happens.”
In contrast to Thursday’s pitchers’ duel, it did not take long for runs to get on the board for either side. Sac State (4-1) freshman pitcher Austin Roberts allowed a home run to the first batter he faced in Northern Kentucky (1-4) senior right fielder TJ Alas.
Dawkins, who ended the game with his bat, also received the first hit for the Hornets and advanced to second on a throwing error. A double from senior designated hitter Kody Reynolds moved Dawkins to third, and both runners were driven home by sophomore right fielder James Outman to take a 2-1 lead over Northern Kentucky.
After shutting down all three batters in the second inning, Roberts faced trouble in the third after walking a batter, hitting the following batter with a pitch and giving up an RBI single to Northern Kentucky sophomore Will Haueter, tying the game 2-2. Roberts eventually loaded the bases and hit another batter to give Northern Kentucky a 3-2 lead before getting out of the situation with another strikeout.
Sac State responded in the third inning as sophomore second baseman Devin Lehman hit a single and raced to second base on a wild pitch. Outman picked up his third RBI of the night to tie the game at 3-3. After a walk loaded up the bases, junior first baseman Vinny Esposito hit a fly out to center field, scoring Reynolds on the sacrifice fly and taking a 4-3 lead.
However, Roberts — who finished his night with four earned runs on five hits in three and third innings pitched — gave up two hits to junior third baseman Dominic Mercurio and Alas to tie the game at 4-4 in the fourth inning.
“He’s a freshman,” Sac State coach Reggie Christiansen said. “Things are going to go back and forth, but they could have been a lot worse. He got us out of a jam in the third (inning) — we had to get him in the fourth (inning), but it’s a learning curve for him.”
The Hornets used five pitchers in relief during the rest of the game: junior Austin Root gave up two hits in two and a third innings; senior Tanner Olson struck out one batter; senior Chad Perry and junior Ty Fox handled the seventh and eighth innings by allowing zero hits. Lastly, sophomore Alex Dentoni finished the night with two strikeouts and zero earned runs on two hits in his second victory of the season.
In the eleventh inning, Northern Kentucky freshman left fielder Preston Pilat reached third base on an error by Outman. After two straight outs, Haueter hit an infield single to take a 6-5 lead.
Sac State forced two men on base in the 11th inning with a single from senior third baseman Brandon Hunley and a walk by senior left fielder Blake Edmonson. With two outs, Goodrich hit a single past the shortstop to tie the game and give Dawkins a chance to end it.
“We go out there with the mindset that all you have to do is get the next guy up,” Goodrich said. “You can’t do it yourself. The guys in front of me did a great job of getting on base — I was just looking for a good pitch to hit to help us tie it up.”
With runners on second and third, Dawkins ended the three hour and 10-minute game with a walk-off single.
“(Dawkins) wants to be in that situation,” Christiansen said. “There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to get it done.”
Sac State will look for the sweep as it plays Northern Kentucky in the third and final game of the series at 2 p.m. Saturday at John Smith Field.
