Sacramento State baseball rematched Fresno State at John Smith Field and lost a close game 5-4, on Tuesday in disheartening fashion.
The Hornets fell behind in the first inning with the Bulldogs hitting back-to-back doubles in the first to score one run for the lead. The Bulldogs would tack on three more runs in the third inning with RBI singles to left field from junior left fielder Bobby Blandford and senior catcher Tyler Davis.
The Hornets put up a valiant comeback effort as senior right fielder Cesar Valero hit his fourth home run of the season, in the bottom of the third inning to score sophomore first baseman JP Smith and senior shortstop Gunner Gouldsmith to shorten the lead 4-3.
Yet again this offensive surge for Sac State was shut down by Fresno State when they scored off a double by junior designated hitter Rocco Peppi to increase the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-3.
This didn’t stop the Hornets as they gave another daring effort in the bottom of the ninth, with a two-out triple from freshman infielder Cameron Sewell to bring some fire back to the Hornets.
Redshirt freshman Brett Ott would then hit a single to the second baseman, beating out a close play at first and scoring Sewell to close the lead 5-4.
This would all be in vain as Sac State hit a fly ball in the infield and ended the game with a 5-4 victory for Fresno State.
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“I’m pleased with how we pitched,’’ Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen said. “Offensively we didn’t do much.”
Christiansen said that they were short-staffed and didn’t have a lot of their main pitchers in order to stay ready for their road trip to Utah, but this was no excuse for how their offense would turn out.
“We just have to continue to find a way to get better each week,” Christiansen said. “I still think it’s gonna click at some point.”
Defense was another issue that plagued Sac State, overall the team has made 22 errors this season. Christiansen said there will be some definite changes this coming weekend.
“I think we’re gonna play Jose at third for now and Bojo at second for now and see how that goes,” Christiansen said. “Right now it’s just a position thing.”
Senior third baseman Jorge Bojorquez has the most errors on the team with six and a move to second could potentially take some of the pressure off of him for future games.
Valero said he doesn’t see anything different with the defense, but he knows that the offense needs to step-up.
“We just didn’t hit,” Valero said. “ Kinda wish we had one more game against them.”
Valero said there’s nothing on his mind other than Utah Tech, who has a 3-14 overall record and are 1-2 in the Western Athletic Conference.
“Win the series no matter what,” Valero said. “Obviously we learn from what we have to learn but the goal is to win the series.”
Freshman pitcher Sean Carey, who made his debut on the mound in the eighth and struck out two over his 1.2 innings, didn’t feel disheartened and was happy to help the team.
“It feels great to be out here finally with the team,” Carey said. “I think we just had a bad game tonight. I think we’ll be back next game.”
Carey said that the offense was good in their last game and he expects nothing else but to compete and win against Utah Tech this weekend.
“I hope we sweep them actually,” Carey said. “I just know we’re gonna win.”
Sac State will travel for the second time this season and play Utah Tech University for their second conference series on Friday, at 5:05 p.m.
