The Sacramento State Hornets only had three days off before their second 4-game series of the season. This time, Sac State faced off against Ball State in the familiar confines of John Smith Field for all four games.

The Hornet pitching staff got their first shutout of the year, but a plethora of defensive miscues resulted in another series split.

Thursday: Sac State 3, Ball State 4

Sophomore pitcher Sean Carey got his first start of the season against Ball State in the series’ first game on Feb. 20.

The Cardinals took an early lead in the first inning on a dropped fly ball by senior center fielder Tyler White, allowing a runner to score. In the third, redshirt junior catcher Elie Kligman missed a throw on a play at home, allowing the second unearned Cardinals run of the game.

Four walks, combined with the two fielding errors in the first four innings, put the Hornets down early. Carey navigated the stressful innings, allowing just one hit while striking out four and limiting Ball State to just two runs.

“He pitched in and out in some trouble,” Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen said. “He still needs to throw more strikes, but I think it was a step in the right direction.”

The Hornets didn’t strike back until the seventh, when sophomore outfielder Myles Walton grounded into a double play but scored the runner from third. White followed Walton up with a 2-out RBI single up the middle – bringing the deficit to 2-4.

The Hornets kept the Cardinals off the board in the top of the eighth and ninth, thanks to senior reliever Brady Chavez striking out two to get the Hornets out of a bases-loaded jam.

Still down by two runs, Sac State quickly fell behind with back-to-back outs in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Hornets just one out to work with.

White worked his second full-count walk of the game, bringing the tying run to the plate. Junior outfielder Ryan Christiansen hit a line drive on the first pitch, which bounced off the right field fence away from the fielder, allowing White to score.

The table was set for junior first baseman and clean-up hitter JP Smith. However, to a chorus of boos from the home crowd, Ball State elected to intentionally walk Smith.

The walk brought up redshirt sophomore third baseman Jakob Poturnak, who had just one hit in five at-bats in the outing.

Poturnak hit a comeback grounder to the pitcher on the second pitch he saw, who threw him out to end the game and shut down the Hornets’ comeback.

RELATED: Sac State closes season-opening series with a 19-11 barn burner

Friday: Sac State 6, Ball State 4

The first game of Friday’s doubleheader saw Ball State take an early lead on Sac State for the second game in a row.

Senior starting pitcher Tyler Stewart had a rocky five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, but he struck out seven. By the end of Stewart’s day, Ball State had a 4-0 lead.

The Hornet bullpen came in for Stewart in the sixth inning, immediately silencing the Cardinal bats. The only run came due to a throwing error in the sixth.

That unearned run would be Ball State’s last, giving the Hornets their second chance of the series to go to extras or walk it off.

The Hornets took advantage of poor pitching by the Cardinals in the seventh. Junior catcher Jacob Cortez reaching on a hit by pitch, three walks and a wild pitch gave the Hornets three runs.

Sac State entered the final inning down by one. Familiar faces were due up in White, Ryan Christiansen and Smith, who were looking to redeem their previous loss.

White hit a bloop in front of the right fielder for a single. Ball State replaced their reliever with senior closer Drue Young.

Ryan Christiansen walked up to his high-stakes at-bat with a chance to win the game.

Down two strikes, he stayed patient, watching a fastball scrape the outside of the plate for ball 1. Young came back to Ryan Christiansen with a hanging breaking ball that took up too much of the plate, and Ryan Christiansen turned on it.

He skyed it over the right field fence for a 2-run walk-off homer bringing the game to a final score of 6-4.

WALK US OFF RYAN CHRISTIANSEN!#StingersUp @WACsports @NCAABaseball @midmajors_d1 pic.twitter.com/bAbWbrC0Uy

— Sac State Baseball (@SacStBaseball) February 22, 2025

Friday: Sac State 2, Ball State 0

The Hornets decided to close out the doubleheader with a speedy 2 hour and 20 minute pitching duel, resulting in their first shutout of the season.

Senior pitcher Evan Gibbons followed up a disappointing first start with a whopping eight strikeouts and two hits over six innings, securing his first win of the season.

Gibbons said that the pitching staff was going to make it a focus to get deeper into games.

“We’re going to throw as many innings as we can,” Gibbons said before his first start against USF.

Gibbons and Brown allowed just three hits and three walks, striking out 12 Cardinal batters combined.

The game’s only two runs came in the third and fourth innings.

In the third, freshman shortstop Michael Perazzo laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved runners to second and third. Lead-off hitter White hit a slow bouncer to second, enough to score the runner from third for the first run of the game.

Sophomore infielder Cameron Sewell singled then stole second, setting the table for a junior infielder Christian Perez double to left field. Perez’ hit sent Sewell home, bringing the game to its final score of 2-0 in the fourth.

Relieving Gibbons in the seventh, the only other Hornet pitcher used was redshirt sophomore closer Kade Brown. He came in for his second 3-inning save of the season, allowing just one hit and one walk with four strikeouts.

Saturday: Sac State 10, Ball State 13

In the final game of the series, the Hornets found their laurels too restful. The game saw the Hornets put up 7 unanswered runs by the end of the second, only for the pendulum to come crashing down the other way in a devastating finale.

Smith doubled to left field, scoring the first run. Ryan Christiansen and Smith scored on back-to-back wild pitches putting the Hornets up 3-0 in the first.

The next inning, Smith worked a 4-pitch walk with the bases loaded, bringing home Walton.

The floodgates were opened, as Poturnak hit a 2-run single. Sewell closed the inning with a fly out to center field to score another run and bring the Hornets to a comfortable 7-0 lead.

The 7-run cushion proved too small, as Sac State allowed the Cardinals to score nine unanswered runs by the end of the fifth.

In the third, fourth and fifth, Ball State hit two 2-run homers, hit a 2-run RBI single and scored two runs on a dropped ball by Ryan Christiansen.

Ball State sent a cavalcade of runners across the base paths in three of the most torturous innings Sac State has seen this year. By the end of the fifth, Ball State was up 9-7.

A defensive collapse by the Hornets led to six of Ball State’s 13 runs to be unearned.

Christiansen was critical of his team’s defense and said that minimizing errors would be a focus of the team going forward.

“We talked about it. We don’t make a play, it costs us a run,” Christiansen said. “Defensively, we’ve got to be better.”

The Hornet offense did their best to counter the Cardinals. In the sixth inning, Poturnak hit a solo home run over the center field fence, followed by a score of 13-9 in the seventh.

The solo blast was Poturnak’s third of the season, giving him the newcomer a lead over his fellow Hornets, which is a personal goal of his for the season.

“My junior college years in Kansas with Cloud, I hit 19 home runs. So hopefully I can replicate that here,” Poturnak said.

The Hornets made lots of contact in the last game of the series, with Poturnak and Ryan Christiansen both having 3-hit games, but sunk themselves with multiple throwing and fielding errors in the 13-10 loss.