Sacramento State is now 12-11 on the year while Santa Clara fell to 11-8.

Santa Clara jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second after Will Thompson led off the inning with a home run to right field on a 3-2 count. The Broncos increased their lead to 3-0 in the third when Jason Matteucci drove in two runs with a single up the middle.

Sacramento State took its first advantage of the game with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Junior Craig Johnson led off the inning with a walk before senior John Acha followed with a home run over the left-field wall. For Acha, a native of Turlock, Calif., it was his team leading seventh home run of the season. After sophomore Brian Blauser and junior Bret LeVier drew consecutive walks, junior Brett Flowers cleared the bases with a double to right-center field.

Santa Clara recaptured the lead (6-4) after and RBI double by Matt McColgen, a run-scoring fielding error by sophomore Jim Strombach in left field and an RBI double by Robert Perry.

The Hornets retook the lead (7-6) with three runs in the top of the fifth. Johnson led off the inning with a single to right and then stole second base. Acha followed with an RBI single to center and then advanced to third on consecutive groundouts by sophomore Brian Blauser and LeVier. In the next at-bat, Flowers drove a ball over the left-field wall for his second home run of the season.

Sacramento State added another run in the seventh (8-6) when Blauser hit an RBI single up the middle. Acha led off the inning with a double to right field and then scored when Blauser followed with a single.

In the ninth, Santa Clara loaded the bases with no outs but senior Renecke Stelzriede induced a home-to-first double play and then forced Michael Thompson to pop out to second to end the game.

Freshman Billy Sinacori (1-2) earned the win after allowing no runs on two hits while walking one and striking out three in 4.0 innings of relief. Stelzriede earned his first save of the year after allowing only one hit in the ninth.

Patrick McBride (0-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing three runs on three hits while striking out one in one inning of work.

Acha finished 3-for-5 from the plate with a double, a home run and three RBI while Flowers went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBI to lead the Hornet offense. Senior Jack Arroyo also added two hits in the game.

Sacramento State will next host San Francisco State for a three-game series this weekend at Hornet Field. The first game will be on Friday, Mar. 12, at 2 p.m. with game two set for Saturday, Mar. 13, at 1 p.m The series finale will be on Sunday, Mar. 13, at 1 p.m.