The Hornets dropped to 22-27 on the year while the Cardinal improved to 31-5.

Stanford took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Jed Lowrie and John Mayberry, Jr., hit back-to-back solo homers over the left-field wall. The Cardinal still threatened with the bases loaded and two outs but junior Marshall Hendon got Chris Minaker to fly out to right field to end the inning.

Sacramento State cut the deficit to 2-1 in the third when junior Bret LeVier drove in junior Brett Flowers with a sacrifice fly to center field. Flowers led off the inning with a walk and then advanced to second on a bloop single to left by junior Andy Hnilo. After both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by junior Pedro Santiago, LeVier followed with a high fly to center to score the Hornets'' first run.

The Cardinal extended their lead to 5-1 in the second after an RBI single by Brian Hall and a two-run base hit by Mayberry, Jr.

Stanford made it 7-1 in the third when Jim Rapoport drove in two runs with a single through the left side.

The Cardinal added two more runs in the fourth (9-1) after a two-run home run down the left-field line by Donny Lucy.

Stanford made it 12-1 in the sixth after an RBI triple by Danny Putnam, an RBI double by Chris Carter and a sacrifice fly to center by Minaker.

The Cardinal added three more runs in the seventh when Mayberry, Jr., drove in a run with an RBI single and John Hester drove in two runs with a double.

Mark Romanczuk (8-1) earned the win after allowing one run on four hits while walking one and striking out seven in 8.0 innings of work.

Hendon (1-4) was tagged with the loss after giving up five runs on seven hits while walking three batters in 2.0 innings.

The home-and-home series will now shift to Hornet Field for the finale on Saturday, April 24, at 2 p.m.