Junior Ronnie Machado, Jr.’s base hit through the right side with two outs in the 10th inning led the Sacramento State baseball team to a 5-4 win over San Francisco, Wednesday afternoon at Hornet Field. The game marked the home opener for Sacramento State. The contest was reschedule from its original date (Feb. 3) due to rain.Sacramento State is now 3-1 on the year while San Francisco fell to 0-1.
The Hornets opened a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third after an RBI single by junior Brett Flowers. With two on and two out, Flowers laced a single up the middle to drive in junior Craig Johnson from second. Sacramento State added another run in the fourth when junior Andy Hnilo, who led off the inning with a double to left center, scored from third on a wild pitch by Kevin Rose.
Sacramento State made it 4-0 in the bottom of fifth after junior Bret LeVier hit a sacrifice fly to center field and sophomore Jim Strombach hit an RBI single to center. Johnson led off the inning with a double to center before Flowers drew a walk and junior catcher Buddy Morales was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. In the next at-bat, LeVier hit a fly to center to score Johnson. Strombach followed with a base hit up the middle to score Flowers from second.
San Francisco cut the lead to 4-2 in the top of the sixth after an RBI single down the left-field line by Chris Genung and a run scoring wild pitch by senior Andy Mohr.
The Dons evened the contest with two run in the top of the eighth when Joe Jacobitz squibbed an RBI grounder to third with the bases loaded and Nick Cirbo hit a sacrifice fly to left field.
After two scoreless innings, Machado, Jr. delivered a single to the right field with two men on and two outs in the bottom of the 10th. With two outs, sophomore Brian Blauser entered as a pinch hitter and laced a single up the middle. Junior Travis Kassebaum pinch ran for Blauser and then moved to third on a base hit to center by Hnilo. After Hnilo stole second, Machado, Jr. delivered the game winner.
Senior Renecke Stelzriede (2-0) earned the win after allowing no runs on three hits while walking one in three innings of relief. Sophomore Mel Cuckovich, who left with a 4-0 lead in the fifth, earned the no decision after allowing two runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
McGuigan (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing one run on six hits with two strikeouts in 4.2 innings.
Machado, Jr., a native of Tulare, Calif., finished 3-for-5 with an RBI to lead the Hornet offense. Hnilo and junior John Acha also finished with two hits each to contribute to the squad.
Sacramento State will next face UC San Diego for a three-game series beginning on Friday, Feb. 6, at 2 p.m. The second game will be on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 1 p.m. before the final game on Sunday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m.
