HONOLULU - The Sacramento State baseball team split a conference doubleheader with the Hawai'i Rainbows, winning game one 2-1 before falling in game two 7-2 on Saturday, April 18 at Les Murakami Stadium.
With the days action, the Hornets record moved to 21-16, 2-5 in Western Athletic Conference play, while the Rainbows moved to 23-13, 6-4 in the WAC
In game one, Hawai'i opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, as Kevin Macdonald hit a solo home run, his second of the series, to give the Rainbows a 1-0 lead.
The Hornets came back to tie the contest at 1-1 in the top of the fourth, as junior Tim Wheeler and seniors Blake Crosby and Jeff Roth hit three straight two-out singles, with Roth's being an RBI effort that scored Wheeler from second base. They took the lead in the top of the fifth, as following a lead off single by freshman Aaron Crouch and a sacrifice bunt by freshman Justin Lamb that moved Crouch into scoring position, senior Hunter Martinez hit an RBI single to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Hornets. That was all the runs the Hornets would need, as they took home a 2-1 victory.
Hornet freshman starter Jesse Darrah (7-2) pitched a gem, allowing just one run on five hits in 7.2 innings pitched, walking one while striking out two. Roth moved from right field to the pitcher's mound to record the final four outs and pick up his fourth save of the season. Darrah's win total is the most for any Hornet pitcher since Ethan Katz won nine games during the 2004 season.
After seeing his 17-game hitting streak snapped in game one of the series on Friday, Crosby finished game one of the doubleheader 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Hornet charge, while Roth finished 2-for-4 with a RBI.
Game two, a scheduled seven inning affair, started with the Rainbows opening the scoring in the bottom of the first, as after Shane Hoey reached on a wild pitch after striking out, Vinnie Catricala hit a two-run homer to left center field, giving Hawai'i a 2-0 lead.
The Hornets cut the lead in half in an unusual way in the top of the second, as Roth doubled with one out, and went on to score from second base on a wild pitch thrown by Rainbow starter Nate Klein.
The Rainbows extended the lead in the bottom of the third, scoring one run on a RBI single by Kolten Wong and another on a RBI groundout by Christian Johnson to take a 4-1 lead. The advantage grew to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth, as Catricala provided a RBI two-out single that scored Greg Garcia.
Sacramento State cut the advantage to 5-2 in the top of the sixth, as after Wheeler drew a one-out walk, Crosby connected on a RBI double down the left field line. But the Rainbows blew it back open with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, as Macdonald connected on a RBI groundout, and Johnson provided a RBI infield single, accounting for the final margin of 7-2.
Sophomore Brandon Sandoval (4-4) picked up the loss for the Hornets, allowing seven runs on six hits in 5.1 innings of work. Klein (1-2) picked up his first win of the season, allowing one run on four hits in five innings pitched.
Junior Joe España led the Hornets in game two with a pair of hits, while Roth extended his hitting streak to 11 games with the second inning double.
The two teams will close out the four game set with a lone game on Sunday, April 19 at 4:05 p.m. Pacific time.
HONOLULU - The Sacramento State baseball team split a conference doubleheader with the Hawai'i Rainbows, winning game one 2-1 before falling in game two 7-2 on Saturday, April 18 at Les Murakami Stadium.
