Sacramento State returned to John Smith Field after a long offseason to kick off a wild 4-game series they split 2-2 against the San Francisco Dons.

The weekend series had every type of game fans could want. From a 1-run pitching duel to a couple of offensive slugfests, the Hornets got a good look at what this new roster has to offer.

Friday: Sacramento State 4, San Francisco 3

The season opener on Friday, Feb. 14, was senior starting pitcher Tyler Stewart’s second opportunity to start the first game of the season in his Hornets career. The Dons got to Stewart early when junior catcher Zach Ramppen hit a solo home run that stayed just fair of the left field foul pole in the third inning, bringing the Dons ahead 1-0.

The Hornets immediately responded in the bottom of the inning. Junior third baseman Jacob Poturnak, in his first at-bat as a Hornet, worked a gritty full-count, bases-loaded walk that pushed sophomore outfielder Myles Walton home to tie the game.

The Hornets kept it going with a single to right field from redshirt junior catcher Elie Kligman, sending in junior first baseman JP Smith and junior center fielder Tyler White to put the Hornets ahead of the Dons 3-1 heading into the fourth.

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Stewart said that his team’s offensive pick-me-up helped him get back on the mound after giving up the solo home run early on, allowing him to attack the zone confidently.

“It definitely gives me confidence to go out there and attack more,” Stewart said.

Senior reliever Andrew Monson replaced Stewart in the fifth, but had a difficult outing. Monson walked three and allowed two runs on just 35 pitches, allowing the Dons to cut the Hornets’ lead to just one, but the Hornets’ young bullpen slammed the brakes.

The bullpen kept the Dons in place, allowing just one hit with no runs in the last three innings.

Redshirt sophomore closing pitcher Kade Brown got the 2-inning save for the Hornets between the eighth and ninth. Brown walked one and allowed a hit in the eighth that put the go-ahead run on base, but Brown got out of it, facilitating a foul out, a ground out and a fielder’s choice that left two stranded.

Brown’s performance earned him the save and the win went to Stewart, who ended the game with five innings pitched, three hits and one run allowed, one walk and three strikeouts.

Saturday: Sacramento State 5, San Francisco 8

Saturday’s game in San Francisco was the inverse of Friday’s opener. Senior starting pitcher Evan Gibbons allowed seven runs in his 4.2 innings of work, digging the Hornets a hole they couldn’t overcome.

The Dons had Gibbons figured out by the third inning. Graduate student outfielder Kenny Decelle doubled to score one, and a 2-run home run from senior infielder TJ Rogers brought the Dons to a 4-0 lead.

Gibbons was replaced in the fourth by sophomore reliever Sean Carrey, who iced the Dons bats through two innings of work. Carrey allowed just one hit, shutting down what had been a potent offense.

Carrey received some run support in the bottom of the fourth from Poturnak, who blasted a 2-run homer into left field, his first hit as a Hornet. Poturnak wasn’t finished though, hitting a second 2-run homer in the eighth to bring the score to 7-5.

“I was amped up,” Poturnak said. “I was just set on fastball, and it got me success.”

Despite the loud offensive blasts in the fourth and the eighth, the Hornets couldn’t close the gap.
The Dons landed the final blow with a DeCelle single in the eighth, bringing in one last run to end the scoring.

Sunday: Sacramento State 7, San Francisco 15

In Sunday’s game, the Hornets’ pitching staff blew a tire. Coming home to John Smith Field for the third game of the series, the Hornets hit four Dons batters, allowed three home runs and four doubles. After a promising 1-2-3 first inning from junior starting pitcher Colin Hunter, the Dons registered at least one run in every inning until the ninth.

“We didn’t get off to a good start in terms of the way we pitched,” Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen said. “We had a really hard time getting anybody out today.”

Despite back-to-back home runs in the fifth from Smith and Kligman which cut the lead to 6-5, the Dons pulled away thanks to junior outfielder Jordan Lewis’s 2-run homer in the sixth. Lewis continued to have a great offensive game in the seventh, hitting a double to left field to score three more runs and crack the game wide-open 11-6.

Game three of this series was as ugly on the field as it was on the score sheet. Four unearned runs, two errors and four hit batsmen culminated in a rough 3 hour and 38 minute game.

Monday: Sacramento State 19, San Francisco 11

The Hornets followed up their terrible game on Sunday with a nearly four-hour, 30-run street brawl that saw Sac State score a total of 19 runs on 19 hits.

Sac State started strong, batting around in both the first and the second, scoring four runs in each inning. The Hornets did all their early scoring with the small ball. A total of seven walks and singles were enough for the Hornets to jump ahead of the Dons 8-1 going into the third.

The Hornets slowed down, allowing the Dons to close the gap in the fourth. A single, a wild pitch and a hit batsman loaded the bases for senior infielder Patrick Keighran to walk in a run, bringing the score to 8-4.

The Hornets retained their 4-run lead by matching the Dons blow for blow through the fifth, with a single run each, and in the sixth, where they matched each other with a 5-run inning.

The Hornets capped the day off with two home runs in the eighth. First was junior infielder Christian Perez who hit his first homer as a Hornet, followed by a no-doubt grand slam to deep left field by Smith, the third of his career, bringing Sac State’s lead to 19-10.

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Three straight one-out walks to load the bases and JP Smith promptly clears them… Second HR of the year and his third career grand slam as the Hornets go up 19-10 headed to the B8th #StingersUp @WACsports pic.twitter.com/MS0IT1y5xF

— Sac State Baseball (@SacStBaseball) February 18, 2025

Brown didn’t let the comfort of a 9-run lead get to him and put on a career performance, striking out eight batters in the final three innings. Despite giving up one home run in the final inning, Brown went on to strike out the side to close a head spinner of a game and the series.

Sac State will play Ball State at John Smith Field in a 4-game series that starts today at 2 p.m.