SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the second-straight day, the Sacramento State baseball team received a complete-game from its starting pitcher as the Hornets defeated the University of the Pacific, 8-5, Sunday afternoon at Hornet Field. The victory gave the team a 2-1 series win against the Tigers, marking the first time this season that the Hornets have captured a Big West Conference series.The win allowed Sacramento State to end the season with a 22-33 overall record and a 4-20 Big West mark. Pacific ended its year at 26-28-1 overall and 7-17 in league play.
Jeff Groeger raised his record to 7-8 with the win. The two-year starter concluded his career by throwing all nine innings and striking out nine. The Diamond Bar, Calif., native ended the season with five complete games. His nine career complete games ranks fourth in school history.
The Hornets jumped to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning. Bret LeVier opened the inning by reaching on an error and Ryan Brown followed with a single. After Chris Kinsey popped up, Joe Evans homered to right-center field. Seniors Mario Celillo and Casey Fuller added back-to-back doubles to end the scoring.
Pacific bounced back with three runs in the second inning, taking advantage of just one hit, two walks and a pair of sacrifice flies. Sacramento State scored its fifth run in the third inning on Evans’ second home run of the game. The team then added three runs in the fifth inning to pull ahead, 8-3.
Pacific rallied in the eighth inning with a pair of runs. Joel Summers scored the first run of the inning and James Stanford grounded out to score Aaron Harper. The Tigers had opportunity for more runs in the ninth. The team had runners on first and second with one out but Groeger was able to strike out Octavio Amezquita and get Summers to fly out to left to end the game.
Sacramento State totaled 11 hits as a team led by seniors Ryan Brown and Celillo who each had three. Celillo, who homered in the fifth inning, and Evans also ended the game with three RBI apiece.
Michael Fitzgerald and Adam Alverson each had two hits to pace Pacific.
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Pacific (26-28-1, 7-17) 030 000 020 - 5 8 2
Sacramento State (22-34, 4-20) 401 030 00X - 8 11 1
WP - Jeff Groeger (7-8)
LP - Todd Bergthold (2-4)
Todd Bergthold, Jason Godkin (6) and Octavio Amezquita; Jeff Groeger and Joe Evans.
TOP HITTERS - UOP - Adam Alverson 2x3; Michael Fitzgerald 2x4. SAC - Mario Celillo 3x4, HR, 2B; Ryan Brown 3x4; Joe Evans 2x4, 2 HR; Casey Fuller 2B.
