The Hornets fall to 17-23 on the season, while the Cardinal improve to 16-15.

The Sacramento State pitching staff gave up multiple runs in each of the first three innings, before junior right-hander Justin Deme took the mound in the fourth to retire the side in order.

Senior Travis Kane (2-4) took the loss for the Hornets after allowing seven runs on six hits in 1.1 innings of work.

Stanford’s Matt Leva (2-0) pitched 5.0 innings, surrendering just one run (unearned) on four hits in the win.

Gary Johnson gave Sacramento State an early lead in the first, leading off the game with a single to left field. The Fair Oaks, Calif.,native advanced to third on a Stanford fielding error and eventually scored off Buddy Morales’ RBI groundout.

Stanford used a four-run first inning to mount a 4-1 lead. Kane gave up singles to Ryan Seawell and Joey August to leadoff the inning, surrendering the first runs on Chris Minaker’s two-run double to left field. Chris Lewis produced a two-out, two-run double to left field, before a diving stop from third baseman David Flores recorded the Hornets’ third out.

In the second, Minaker’s RBI single and John Hester’s two-run double built the Cardinal advantage to 7-1.

Stanford was led at the plate by Minaker’s 3-for-4, three-RBI effort, while Lewis was 3-for-5 with three RBIs as well.

Sacramento State added four runs late in the game, spurred by Montana Dye’s sacrifice fly that scored sophomore David Flores in the seventh.

In the eighth, sophomore Taylor Watanabe recorded a one-out single up the middle, and eventually scored on junior Devin Spurling’s double to right center. Spurling then scored the Hornets’ fourth run on senior Josh Levin’s RBI single.

In his first action of the season after returning from an injury, Levin was 1-for-2 at the plate, while also making his first career appearance on the mound in the eighth inning.

In total, eight pitchers saw action for Sacramento State.

The Hornets recorded 11 hits, with Flores, Spurling and senior Jim Strombach garnering doubles. Flores led the team with a 2-for-4 effort.

Sacramento State will host Louisiana Tech beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Friday at Hornet Field. The Bulldogs enter the three-game series leading the Western Athletic Conference with an 8-3 league record.

A live audio broadcast will be available on www.hornetsports.com with Dylan McKenzie providing the play-by-play. To access the broadcast click on the Live Audio link at the top of the page and scroll down to baseball.