Sacramento State travelled to Texas to play Tarleton State, the team that knocked them out of the Western Athletic Conference in a wild-card game last year, for a 3-game series on Friday, March 28, before returning home to play Cal.

In a back-and-forth affair against the Texans, the Hornets fell well below the mark of winning, dropping back-to-back games to close the series in unremarkable fashion.

Friday: Sac State 8, Tarleton State 4

The series opener was the cleanest game of the bunch, thanks to efficient defense, strong performances from their pitching staff and plenty of home runs to fill any gaps.

After going down in order in the first two innings, the Hornets scored their first run on a sacrifice fly by freshman infielder Michael Perazzo, putting Sac State ahead 1-0.

Sac State continued their attack in the fourth thanks to junior first baseman JP Smith, who hit a lead-off double to center field and hustled home to score, extending the lead 2-0.

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Senior starter pitcher Evan Gibbons threw a scoreless gem until the Texans hit a lead-off double followed by an RBI single to close the gap to 2-1 in the fifth inning.

The Hornets didn’t let their starters’ effort go to waste, adding on to their lead in the top of the sixth with redshirt sophomore Jakob Poturnak’s 3-run homer that put his team up 5-1.

This was Poturnak’s first home run in 10 games, the longest drought in the young slugger’s short Sac State career.

Tarleton State responded in turn, just not as loudly. A hit by pitch was followed by a couple of singles that scored the lead-off hitter, bringing Tarleton State within three.

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Gibbons induced a swinging strike out but allowed a booming double down the right field line that was enough to score the runner from second. The loud contact continued with a line out to sophomore second baseman Cameron Sewell, but it was enough for Sac State head coach Reggie Christiansen to go to one of his most reliable bullpen arms, senior pitcher Noah Lucchesi.

With just two pitches, Lucchesi induced a fly out to right field to end the highest-scoring inning for the Texans.

Junior outfielder Luis Pimentel-Guerrero kept the scoring going by adding his crack of the bat to the chorus of home runs the Hornets were composing, a 2-run shot deep to right field for a score of 7-3 in the seventh.

“My at-bats felt great,” Guerrero said. “I feel on-time and loose, which is all I need.”

He was joined by senior right fielder Ryan Christiansen, who sent a blast to the deepest part of the yard in straightaway center, extending the Hornet lead to 8-3.

Lucchesi nearly took the game to its close with two quick outs in the ninth, but the Texans executed a ground attack with three consecutive singles, leading to an 8-4 score. A 4-pitch walk loaded the bases, ending his outing.

He was relieved by redshirt sophomore pitcher Kade Brown, who only needed five pitches to induce the strikeout, leaving three Texans stranded.

Friday was Sac State’s only win in the series and exemplified everything they need to win games: home runs, great outings from their pitching staff and clean defense.

The Hornets found all three aspects were scarce the rest of the long weekend.

Saturday: Sac State 3, Tarleton State 7

Sewell continued to be one of the hottest bats in Sac State’s lineup, with an RBI groundout to bring home the opening run in the first inning of Saturday’s matchup for a 1-0 lead. But it wasn’t to last.

While the Hornets scored runs on the small ball, the Texans reminded the California team what state they were in.

With a runner on, Texan senior infielder Slade McCloud sent a 2-run blast over the right field fence for a 2-1 lead.

An infield single preceded another 2-run blast, this time to left field by senior outfielder Trace Morrison for a 4-1 Tarleton lead by the end of the first inning.

The 4-run first inning was enough for senior starter pitcher Tyler Stewart’s coach to end his outing early, his shortest of the year.

With his best swing man in Lucchesi down, Christiansen went through four relievers to try and keep Tarleton State off the board.

The Hornets committed three errors on the day. In the fourth, a fielding error by reliever Sean Carey was followed by a wild pitch, allowing the runner to score on a double down the line for a 6-1 lead.

Carey came out to pitch the fifth but allowed a solo home run that extended the Texans’ lead to 7-1.

A taxed team on defense was weak at the plate, as well. The only bat to score any runs for the Hornets came from Sewell, who hit a 2-run blast in the top of the sixth for the final score of 7-3.

Continuing his fantastic series, Guerrero went 4-4 on the day. He continues to rise through the lineup, now batting second after Christiansen sent Ryan Christiansen down to the sixth place in the lineup.

… 1⃣2⃣3⃣4⃣
Luis Pimentel-Guererro finishes 4-for-4 at Tarleton State on Saturday… best day at the plate by a Hornet since Gunner Gouldsmith was 5-for-5 vs. Stephen F. Austin on May 11, 2024 #StingersUp pic.twitter.com/6FCy7A47fR

— Sac State Baseball (@SacStBaseball) March 29, 2025

“I like hitting in the second spot, ” Guerrero said. “But I don’t care where I hit; wherever that may be, I will go all out for this team.”

Unfortunately for him and his team, none of his hits came with runners in scoring position. Guerrero had the only multi-hit game. Not a single Hornet worked a walk the entire day, leaving the bases empty for much of the effort.

Sunday: Sac State 12, Tarleton State 14

The series finale on Sunday was one of the hardest games to watch of the season.

By the end of the top of the third, the Hornets had built themselves a nice 7-1 lead. Thanks to eight walks and three hit batters, the Hornets only needed three hits to cash in all seven runs.

On paper, it’s a score sheet that looks like it should have been a blowout victory behind poor performances by a Texan pitching staff that sent nine relievers to the mound. The Texans’ pitching staff walked 13 Hornets and hit nine of them, for a total of 22 free passes to first base.

However, the Hornets committed three errors. Two of those came back-to-back after Poturnak made a throwing error to first, followed by the shortstop bobbling the ball.

Those defensive mistakes allowed the Texans to put runners in scoring positions for back-to-back RBI singles. Five runs crossed the plate for a score of 7-6, erasing the Hornets’ 6-run lead by the end of the third inning.

“We left 20 guys on base, certainly didn’t play very good defense, certainly didn’t pitch as good as we could have,” Christiansen said. “I think it’s a combination of all three phases of the game.”

Despite great performances from players like Smith, who went 3-6 with three RBIs, and redshirt junior catcher Elie Kligman, who hit a 2-run homer, the Hornets never built a deficit big enough the Texans couldn’t overcome.

The Hornets retained at least a 1-run lead every inning after the disastrous third, but for every run they scored, the Texans were hot on their trail.

Tarleton State finally completed its comeback in the eighth inning against Brown. With an 11-9 Hornet lead to start the inning, Brown walked the leadoff runner and then allowed four singles, as the ace closer couldn’t locate his pitches.

“He’s not gonna be perfect every time out,” Christiansen said. “That’s the first time he’s not been as sharp, but at the end of the day, we still had an opportunity to win.”

After coming off the mound, it took two more Hornet relievers to close out the inning. By the end, the Texans had completed their comeback, with a 14-11 lead.

The Hornets had one last opportunity to build that big inning at the top of the ninth.

A lead-off walk was followed by – you guessed it – two more hit by pitches that loaded the bases for Smith.

The first baseman was swinging for the fences on a 2-2 pitch. He was beaten each time, going down on a swinging strikeout.

The game came to an end after Poturnak skyed a pitch to the center fielder for the final out of the day, stranding the tying run on first base for a final score of 14-12.

“We didn’t even talk after the loss,” Christiansen said. “Pretty sloppy game all the way around on both sides. At the end of the day, they just played a little better defensively than we did.”

Tuesday: California 6, Sac State 5

Cal paid Sac State a visit for a single game on Tuesday, having not lost against the home team since 2019.

Cal relied on the long ball in the first three innings, hitting two 2-run homers in the first and third for a 4-2 lead. But Sac State, despite a very aggressive shift being put on by Cal, found a way to get hits.

Sac State scored one run per inning from the third to the sixth to tie the game 5-5, all of which were on RBI singles through the gap. The last of these runs came from Sewell, who extended his hit streak to 10 games.

“We didn’t know coming into the game,” Sewell said of Cal’s defensive alignments. “They’re shifting us based on our scouting report. You just got to make the adjustment in the game. I think that some guys did, and some guys didn’t.”

Sewell hit the tying run with a single to the left side, right where the shortstop normally would be if not for playing an aggressive shift on the right side. He scored Ryan Christiansen from third, for the Hornets’ first lead of the game at 5-4.

Christiansen brought in his ace closer, Brown, in the ninth inning to try and preserve the lead. But a defensive blunder in left field by Guerrero turned a would-be single into a triple.

An RBI single up the middle tied the game one batter later, followed by a hit over second base for another run to give Cal the 6-5 lead.

The Hornets put two runners on in the ninth but went down swinging for the final out, leaving them stranded for a final score of 6-5.

Sac State will welcome Seattle U on Friday at 4:00 p.m. for a 3-game division series at home.