Weekend Swarm Report: Baseball completes sweep and track starts strong

Nine Saturday games lead to an action packed day

Patrick Posuniak

Mengting Tian, Dylan McNeill, and Deanna Sanchez
March 1, 2021

Saturday, Feb.27

 

Sacramento State women’s tennis team loses 7-0 to Cal Poly

The Sac State women’s tennis team lost their Saturday match at home against Cal Poly by a score of 7-0.

The Hornets (0-6) lost six singles and two doubles matches. In a singles match between Cal Poly’s (4-0) Delanie Dunkle and Hornet redshirt freshman Tsveti Yotova, Yotova got the win in the first set, but failed to win the second and third. 

Next up the Hornets will face University of San Francisco at home Saturday at 11 a.m. 

 

Women’s volleyball loses 3-1 to Weber State

The Sac State women’s volleyball team lost to Weber State 3-1 on Saturday. 

The Hornets (5-5) won the second set 25-23, but that would be the only victorious set for them in the afternoon. 

Sac State sophomore Caty Cordano ended the match with 35 digs, which tied her for 11th in the Division I era. Sac state senior outside hitter Macey Hayden ended with 12 digs, 11 kills and two aces.

Next up the Hornets will play Eastern Washington at home Saturday at 5 p.m. 

 

Sacramento State softball drops two games to Fresno State 

The Sacramento State softball team (3-5) began a three-game series on the road this weekend at Fresno State. The Hornets and the Bulldogs (3-5) played a double-header at Fresno State’s Margie Wright Diamond with the Hornets losing the first game 11-0 in five innings and losing the second game 5-0 in seven innings.  

In the first game, the Hornets and Bulldogs were locked into a scoreless battle until Fresno State scored four runs in the second inning, and then added seven in the fourth. Bulldog’s senior pitcher Haley Dolcini threw a perfect game, striking out eight Sac State batters. 

The Bulldogs dominated the second game as well, with one run in the first inning, two runs in the third and two more runs in the sixth, holding the Hornets to just two hits throughout the game. 

Men’s Basketball Loses final home game in the last seconds 

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Sara Nevis
Sacramento State senior guard Christian Terrell (35) drives to the basket along the baseline past Weber State Wildcats forward Michal Kozak (11) during the first half of the last home game against Weber State University at the Nest at Sac State Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. Terrell had 10 points in the game. Weber State won 72-70.

Saturday night was Senior Night for the Hornets (7-10, 4-8 Big Sky) in their last home game of the year where they took on conference opponent Weber State (16-5, 11-3 Big Sky).

Weber State’s Isiah Brown scored the deciding bucket with 1.5 seconds remaining, spoiling Sac State’s Senior Night. Weber State won by a final score of 72-70 and are currently in third place in the Big Sky Conference, while the loss moves Sac State to 7-10 on the year as they sit at 9th in the conference with a 4-8 record against Big Sky opponents. 

Sac State guard Christian Terrell hit a jumper with seven seconds remaining but left the door open for the Big Sky’s second leading scorer in Brown.

Senior forward Ethan Esposito led the Hornets with 26 points in the defeat. The Hornets are back in action Thursday as they travel to take on Montana State.

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Cross country season ends at Big Sky Championships

The Sac State cross country team’s season came to a close in Riverdale, Utah during the 2021 Big Sky Championships. Both Sac State’s men’s and women’s teams struggled, coming in 9th and 10th place respectively.

Southern Utah won the men’s division in their home state. The Hornets’ best time came from Shane Marshall who finished in 34th with a time of 25:45.0.

Northern Arizona took home the women’s championship as Sac State finished last with the quickest time coming from Cagnei Duncan who finished 42nd with a time of 19:06.9. 

 

Track and field opens season with successful home meet

In the first track and field meet since February of 2020, Sac State took care of business at home. The men’s team took first while competing against UC Davis and the women’s team took home second place competing against UC Davis and University of Nevada.

LaTrouchka Duke had an impressive debut for the Hornets as she took first place in both the 100 and 200-meter dash. 

Also on the women’s team, Shantel Nnaji dominated as she took first in hammer throw, discus and shotput.

For the men’s team, Jabari Reynolds led the way taking first in the 100-meter and long jump.

The next track meet Sac State will compete in is the California Outdoor Opener in Berkeley, California on March 6.

Sac State women’s basketball drops to 2-19 after their overtime defeat to Weber State. 

The Hornets (2-19, 2-16 Big Sky) scored the last five points of regulation to tie the game at 65 to force overtime, but Weber State (2-17, 2-14 Big Sky) outlasted the Hornets during the extra period. The loss drops Sac State to last place in the Big Sky Conference, a spot previously held by Weber State.

The Hornets struggled to find rhythm offensively as they were held to 31% shooting from the field. Tiana Johnson led the way for Sac State with 16 points on 6-11 shooting.

In overtime, Sac State lost the momentum as they went 1-7 to close the game. The Hornets dropped to 0-10 on the road this season.

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Next for the Hornets is a home game this Wednesday versus Montana State with tip off at 6pm.

Hornets baseball gets back to .500

With the weekend series versus Pacific canceled, the Hornets (3-2) picked up a series against the Texas State Bobcats (3-4). In the first game of the series the Hornets picked up an 8-4 victory to get their second win of the season. 

Scott Randall was the Hornets’ starting pitcher, going five innings allowing just one run on four hits and zero walks, while getting his first win of the season. 

Notable Hornet hitters include Dawsen Bacho, who had two doubles, and Trevor Doyle who went 3-4 with a couple runs batted in.

Sac State took the second game of the double-header versus Texas State on Saturday by a score of 5-4. It was a back-and-forth contest that was hotly contested until the last batter when the Hornets’ Stone Churby struck out the Bobcats’ Isaiah Ortega-Jones.

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James Fife
Right fielder Trevor Doyle steals third after stealing second on a Texas State error in the bottom of the second. The Hornets beat the Texas State Bobcats 4-8 in the first game out of a doubleheader at John Smith Field Saturday February 27 2021.

First baseman Martin Vincelli-Simard started the scoring in the second inning with a two-run bomb. Catcher Dawsen Bacho later drove in a run with a bases loaded walk to tie the game in the 5th inning.

Sunday, Feb.28

Sacramento State Baseball team wins all 3 games against Texas State University.

The Sacramento State baseball team (4-2) won the last game of the 3-game series against Texas State University (3-5) by a score of 7-1 at Sac State’s John Smith Field on Sunday. The game started off slow with both teams having no hits and no runs in the first three innings. The Hornets scored their first run in the bottom of the third inning.

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The Hornets kept up the pace and made contact consistently, scoring another run in the fourth inning and then two more runs in the fifth, with the Bobcats still not getting any runs in leaving the Hornets with a lead of 4-0. The Bobcats were finally able to get a run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly, but Sac State came back hard and fast in the eighth inning with homers by Martin Vincelli-Simard and Aaron Zeidman to push the final score to 7-1.

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Softball team loses away game against Fresno state 4-0

The Hornets (3-8) remained scoreless throughout all seven innings in their away game against Fresno State (6-5) on Sunday.

The Hornet offense never got going against Fresno, getting shut out in all three games of the series.

Fresno State was able to start on a roll, getting in a hit-by-pitch during the first inning, with Sac State sophomore Marissa Bertuccio pitching. Bertuccio, who has been solid for the Hornets so far this year, struggled in the game, giving up three earned runs in three innings.

The Hornets (3-8) were able to get hits in and get on base throughout the game but remained unable to score any runs. 

Next up Sac State will play UC Davis at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in the first game of the Capital Classic Tournament that is scheduled for the rest of the weekend through Sunday. 

 

Sac State Men’s tennis team loses by one game set against Santa Clara University

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Sac State Freshman Liam Liles chases a return during a doubles match on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. The tennis team dropped their third match in a row bringing their record to 1-5 on the season.
(Blynn Beltran)

Sac State (1-5) tennis freshmen Liam Liles and Mark Keki started off the doubles competitions with a win against Santa Clara University (2-1), followed by another win in the doubles competition by Rudolfs Aksenoks and Jan Silva, giving the Hornets the doubles point in the competition.

The early doubles lead wasn’t enough as the Hornets began to fall in the singles matches starting with senior Michael Vizcarra losing against Santa Clara’s Guillaume Dalmasso 6-0 and 6-1. 

Mark Keki and senior Hermont Legaspi followed with wins in singles matches against Santa Clara’s Mann Shah, whom Keki beat twice 6-1 and 6-3 and Dominic Barretto, whom Legaspi beat twice by 7-5.

But Santa Clara ended the match with three-set singles match wins against Silva and Aksenoks to seal the 4-3 victory against Sac State.