Sacramento State bused across the Causeway to face off against regional rivals UC Davis for an evening matchup on Tuesday.
The Aggies handed the Hornets a 14-0 loss just one week prior, extending a 19-inning scoreless streak against the UC Davis team that stretched back to the 2024 season.
“I don’t think the rivalry was really something we thought about more, just the fact that a team beat us so bad a week ago,” senior right fielder Ryan Christiansen said. “We definitely wanted to come out today and play how we know we can.”
The first inning looked all too similar to last week’s faceoff, with the Aggies earning a lead-off single and a walk against Hornet freshman pitcher Baylor Sandberg.
An RBI single backup in the middle brought home the opening run for a 1-0 UC Davis lead, but a double play and a ground out got the freshman out of the jam.
Sandberg came out of the game after the first inning. Replacing him was sophomore reliever Bryce Stockton, who hadn’t taken the mound since the last time Sac State took on UC Davis.
“It’s all mental after taking a week off,” Stockton said. “But you just have to trust your stuff and the guys behind you.”
Stockton relied on his fastball and curve to limit the hot Aggie offense to just three hits across three scoreless innings, his best outing of the season.
Following the first inning, the Hornet bullpen held the Aggies scoreless through the remaining innings, giving up just four hits altogether.
With the bullpen firing on all cylinders, the Hornet offense needed to get the monkey off their back and score some runs.
It wasn’t until the seventh inning that the Hornets put a runner on second, thanks to senior center fielder Tyler White’s lead-off double. As one of the best runners on the team, anything hit deep enough out of the infield could bring White home to knot the game up one apiece.
That’s exactly what sophomore infielder Cameron Sewell did. He hit a sharp single past the second baseman to right field, scoring White from second to tie the game at one apiece.
A single by redshirt sophomore Jakob Poturnak put runners on first and third, with one out for redshirt junior catcher Elie Kligman. The catcher took on designated hitter duties and lived up to the assignment. He clobbered an offering down the left field line, scoring the go-ahead run on an RBI double for a 2-1 lead.
For the first time since April 30, 2024, Sac State had a lead over UC Davis.
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The Hornets kept the pressure on by scoring on a single to left, extending their lead to 3-1.
UC Davis responded in the bottom of the eighth. An error by Sewell put runners on second and third, on what could have been an inning-ending double play.
A sacrifice fly to center was deep enough to score the runner from third, bringing Davis within one run. The run was ruled unearned due to the error, preserving a 1-earned run performance by the bullpen.
Heading into the ninth, the Hornets needed to extend the lead against a team they knew all too well could have an explosive inning at the plate.
Another leadoff double by Kligman, a single by freshman infielder Michael Perazzo and a walk loaded the bases for Christiansen.
The right fielder quickly fell behind in the count with two strikes and risked putting the Hornets down two outs with the bases loaded.
Christiansen hooked an outside pitch to center field. On a windy day, what could have been a sacrifice fly got pushed down for a bloop single in front of the Aggies’ center fielder, scoring two for a 5-2 lead.
Christiansen’s gritty at-bat brought up White, with runners on second and third. Not wasting any time, White ambushed another 1-2 hanging breaking ball, sending it into the Davis night for a dagger 3-run homer.
Tyler White breaks it open with his fourth home run of the season, capping a five-run ninth with a three-run shot to make it 8-2 in the Hornets’ favor… #StingersUp pic.twitter.com/4WGLOBIcTg
— Sac State Baseball (@SacStBaseball) April 16, 2025
The 8-2 lead was the largest lead the Hornets have had over the Causeway rivals since 2019.
“I gotta give credit to the guys who hit before me to put me in a spot to make something happen,” White said. “Without Elie’s go-ahead double, Perazzo’s hit and some really tough at-bats that came before me, I probably don’t get a chance to swing it in that spot, so it’s really just a huge team victory.”
White’s homer gave the Hornets some unnecessary breathing room, as senior pitcher Andrew Monson secured the 8-2 win for the Hornets by sitting down the Aggies to end the game.
The Hornets will have a short break before taking on California Baptist for another Western Athletic Conference series, starting Thursday at 6:00 p.m. at John Smith Field.
