The Sacramento State baseball team cruised to a 9-1 victory over the University of the Pacific Tigers Tuesday night at John Smith Field.

Despite the one-sided victory for Sac State (12-11, 0-3 Western Athletic Conference), the Tigers took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI single courtesy of Pacific junior pitcher Ryan Schalch.

The Hornets struck back in the bottom of the second inning by tying the game with a solo home run off the bat of sophomore right fielder James Outman. Junior first baseman Vinny Esposito then hit a deep triple before being driven home off an RBI double by sophomore designated hitter Devin Lehman. Freshman catcher Dawsen Bacho extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI double of his own in the second inning.

In the fourth inning, Sac State freshman pitcher Austin Roberts got into a no-out bases-loaded situation, but managed to strand all three runners to hold the Hornets 3-1 lead.

“All I had to do was adjust each time I threw the ball,” Roberts said after earning his first victory of the season in his sixth start. “Once I was able to do that, I was able to get batters out.”

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Hornets posted six runs off of three hits and three Pacific errors to extend the lead to 9-1.

Roberts exited the mound after the fifth inning, and only allowed one run on five hits with four strikeouts. Junior Austin Root, senior Chad Perry, senior Tanner Olson, and junior Ty Fox all pitched an inning in relief. The foursome combined to allow no runs and only one hit.

The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Hornets, who were swept in a three-game series against Northern Colorado from March 24-26.

“It was a tough weekend for sure,” Sac State coach Reggie Christiansen said. “But I’m proud of how the team came back here at home. We scored runs early and the pitching was good, so we got it done.”

After a three-game road series at Utah Valley and another away matchup at UC Davis, Sac State will return home April 5 against Fresno State.