Sacramento State baseball opened up their second home series against Saint Joseph’s University, searching for their first win of the 2026 season. The Hornets were held to just five runs in their first series of the season against UC Irvine.

Thursday: Sac State 4, Saint Joseph’s University 1

Sophomore pitcher Chase Sorlie made the start for the Hornets after seeing limited action against UC Irvine, where he pitched one inning with one strikeout. 

RELATED: Swept in Sacramento: Hornets fall in season-opening series to UC Irvine

Sorlie started off the game rocky, allowing the first two batters to reach base off a single and a walk. Nevertheless, Sorlie got out of the jam, getting the next three Hawks out.

Neither the Hornets nor the Hawks generated any runs in the first three innings.

In the second inning with a man on first, Hawks graduate third baseman Richard Beggy sent a line drive that short-hopped right in front of Hornets sophomore shortstop Michael Perazzo. Perazzo corralled the wild hit into his stomach and sent the ball to junior second baseman Cameron Sewell, who rifled it to senior first baseman Luis Pimentel-Guerrero for the 6-4-3 double play. 

“[We] made all the plays we needed to make,” head coach Reggie Christiansen said. “I thought we did a great job tonight.”

The Hornet defense stood tall as Sorlie’s pitch count rose to 65 in only three innings. With Sorlie’s pitch count rising, Christiansen went to the bullpen, sending out senior pitcher Ian Winterhalder in the fourth inning to keep the momentum going. 

After Winterhalder stepped onto the mound in the fourth inning of the game, the bats came alive for the Hornets.

Junior right fielder Erick Dessens sent a blast into right-center field, giving the Hornets a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. The Hornets scored three more runs in the next three innings, adding a cushion for the already dominant Winterhalder.

“This whole week, I’ve been feeling really locked in,” Dessens said. “I was just trying to get a pitch I could drive and it obviously resulted in the home run, but it felt great to kind of get the team going, get some energy up and just start the runs.”

With the run support in effect, Winterhalder pitched four perfect innings of baseball. He put down all 12 batters he faced, not allowing a single runner on base as he struck out four Hawks. 

“We have a great defense behind us [the bullpen],” Winterhalder said. “Just each day, hard work showing up and you know, [this result] is a testament to everything we do day in and day out.”

Fifth-year pitcher Andrew Monson came into the game in the eighth inning and held the Hawks to just one run. 

The first win of the season was solidified by a save from the freshman pitcher Trevor Wilson. Wilson never closed a game in high school but was tasked as the man to do so on Thursday. 

“It was a surreal feeling. As a freshman and my first time closing ever, and honestly, it felt amazing,” Wilson said. “I had a bunch of motivation for my guys, the guys in the bullpen hyping me up and everything. So it was definitely just a surreal moment.”

Wilson was able to get through the side after hitting a Hawk with one out left in the game, stranding the runner on first base with a pop fly to right-center field.

Sac State looked to their bullpen on Thursday and they showed up.

“I thought Ian Winterhalder was the difference [tonight],” Christiansen said. “Twelve up and 12 down tonight. He was awesome.”

Friday: Saint Joseph’s University 5, Sac State 4

Friday night for the Hornets was about resilience. 

Senior pitcher and the teams’ ace, Ethan Lay, was supreme for Sac State. 

“The scouting report we had on them was really good,” Lay said. “We knew what their weaknesses were, so we attacked those. They couldn’t hit breaking pitches very well, so we just kind of kept them off balance.”

Lay pitched 8 2/3 innings on the night, allowing two earned runs while having a career high of 13 strikeouts. Lay’s first six innings retired all 18 batters he faced.

Everything changed in the seventh inning. 

Hawks sophomore centerfielder Alex Kelsey reached second on a throwing error by Hornets senior catcher Jacob Cortez, ending Lay’s night. 

With a runner on second base, a deep fly ball made its way to freshman outfielder Sam Harry. Harry ran and leaned towards the fly ball, only for it to fall just short of his glove. Harry rifled the loose ball to the cutoff, senior shortstop Jace Jeremiah, who promptly threw a hellacious ball over the head of redshirt junior third baseman Jakob Poturnak that ended up out of the ballpark.

After the dust settled, it resulted in an error-ridden, inside-the-park home run.

Even with the mistakes, the Hornets fought back, managing two runs to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with three doubles from Jeremiah, redshirt sophomore left fielder Brett Ott and Poturnak. 

The eighth inning resulted in no change of the score. The ninth inning saw the Hawks get two men on base off a throwing error and a bunt that rolled too slowly for Sewell to make a play to first base. The Hawks now had a runner on first and second with no one out.

Cortez forced an out at third base after an errant bunt, leaving the double play opportunity for the Hornets with men on first and second base. 

The next batter, Hawks sophomore catcher Blake Primrose, sent a line drive into left field. It looked like the Hawks were going to take the lead again. 

Ott charged to the ball, sending a bullet past the cutoff man Poturnak and into Cortez’s glove as he tagged the runner at home out. 

Despite the effort from Ott and Cortez to keep the game tied, Lay hung a curveball that was smashed into the gap in right-center field and scored the two remaining runners. 

After all the chaos, the Hornets found themselves in the bottom of the ninth inning with the bases loaded and no outs. After an errant pitch, Ott scored and every runner advanced. Harry then slammed a ball deep into right field to tie the game as Poturnak tagged up.

RELATED: Swept in Sacramento: Hornets fall in season-opening series to UC Irvine 

With the game in extra innings, the Hornets could not produce any runs and the Hawks scored one run in the top of the 12th inning with no response from the Hornets. 

“We had so many wasted opportunities. Obviously, Ethan [Lay] pitched a heck of a game and, I don’t know how many runners we stranded with a guy on third base and less than two outs, it felt like six, seven times,” Christiansen said. “So unfortunately, it’s contagious when stuff like that happens and the guys just get into that ‘try too hard’ mode. That’s what you saw, is guys trying too hard.”

The long night came to an end with a Sac State loss in the 12th inning.

Saturday: Sac State 4, Saint Joseph’s University 2

Sac State looked much different in the third game of the series, as they jumped out to an early lead while junior pitcher Kurt Marton pitched with ease.

The first run of the game for the Hornets came off a misplayed ground ball to Hawks junior second baseman Tim Dickinson in the second inning, allowing Harry to score all the way from second base. 

This lead was built upon in the third inning when Poturnak blasted his first home run of the season to left-center field, giving the Hornets a 3-run lead.

“[Saint Joseph’s pitcher] was throwing the slider a lot and I was ready for it,” Poturnak said. “He left it up in the zone and I took advantage of it and hit it yard.”

Holding the fort down with the run support was Marton, who struck out a career-high nine batters allowing two earned runs in the 6 2/3 innings. 

“Our pitching was great again today, so it gave us a chance to win,” Christiansen said.

This great pitching continued with junior pitcher Sean Carey, who struck out all three batters he faced before “Money” Monson closed out the game and struck out three batters of his own.

Sunday: Sac State 21, Saint Joseph’s University 2

Sac State came out and dominated the game, scoring at least one run in the first five innings of play as they relied on sophomore pitcher Carson Timothy to slow down the Saint Joseph offense. Timothy only allowed two earned runs in his four innings of pitching, while allowing four hits and one walk on his way to three strikeouts. 

The combined force of five other Hornet relievers allowed no runs in the remaining five innings, while Sac State’s offense exploded.

Sac State totaled eight doubles, 22 hits and one home run on 49 appearances at the plate. This utter domination was led by Pimentel-Guerrero who tallied the lone home run, along with three other hits.

“We had a pregame pep talk by coach [Tony] Bloomfield that kind of just got all the position players fired up,” Pimentel-Guerrero said. “Our loss on Friday just kind of lit a fire up under us, and I think that just kind of caused a huge shift in our momentum. So I think it’s going to trend toward the right way.”

The Hornets look to continue this momentum on the road against the University of the Pacific at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.