Sacramento State cruised to a 10-0 victory over Northern Kentucky Saturday afternoon, making it three-straight wins for the baseball team in the four-game series.

Sac State freshman Parker Brahms pitched seven innings — allowing three hits and zero runs while totaling nine strikeouts in his second start of the season. Brahms picked up his first career win, and brings his ERA to 0.69 on the year.

“All of my pitches were working today,” Brahms said. “I was just trying to throw strikes. If I did leave a ball in play, I knew I could trust my defense out there.”

Sac State (6-1) junior first baseman Vinny Esposito started the game with a two-run home run off of Parking Structure 1 in left field — giving the Hornets a 2-0 lead over Northern Kentucky (1-5) in the second inning. Esposito, who has .080 batting average, said he was happy with his 2-for-5 performance at the plate.

“I finally hit the barrel,” Esposito said. “I wouldn’t say it has been getting gradually better, but it all got better in one swing.”

The Hornets extended their lead to 3-0 in the next inning on an RBI single up the middle from senior designated hitter Kody Reynolds. Junior left fielder Andrew McWilliam started the inning with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and got home on the base hit from Reynolds.

After Reynolds scored in the fifth inning, sophomore second baseman Devin Lehman hit a double in the gap to left center to get freshman catcher Dawsen Bacho across the plate in the sixth inning for a 5-0 lead. Northern Kentucky intentionally walked McWilliam to load the bases, which allowed sophomore right fielder James Outman to hit a grand slam — after an eight-pitch battle — over the right field wall to extend the score to 9-0.

“With two strikes you have to cover the whole plate — that plays into what you swing at and what you aren’t swinging at,” Outman said about his discipline at the plate. “I was thrown a couple changeups, a couple of fastballs — I just got my pitch.”

After the grand slam, Reynolds reached base on a fielding error and ran to home plate following a double by senior third baseman Brandon Hunley to push the lead into double digits at 10-0.

Brahms finished just two innings short of a complete game shutout after exiting in the eighth inning with a pitch count at 92.

“It was 10-0 and early in the year — only his second start,” Sac State coach Reggie Christiansen said about his decision to remove Brahms. “He was over 90 pitches and there was no reason to keep him in there.”

Sac State junior pitchers Jonny Palsha and Ryan Smith closed out the game by allowing zero runs and no hits en route to a 10-0 shutout win over Northern Kentucky.

The Hornets will look to complete a four-game sweep over Northern Kentucky at 1 p.m. Sunday at John Smith Field.