Blake Miller hit his team-best third home run of the season but the Hornets lost to Air Force.
With the win Air Force avoided the sweep and improved to 14-22 on the season. Sacramento State, which won the first three games of the four-game set, fell to 13-25 with the loss.
Falcons’ reliever Alex Baker (2-2) earned the win while Hornets’ reliever Steven Amaral (1-1) took the loss. Air Force’s Stephen Colangelo recorded his fifth save of the season.
Air Force jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with a pair of runs in both the first and second inning.
The Hornets started to chip into the lead when Dax Turner hit an RBI single in the second and Will Soto added another run with an RBI double in the third.
Sacramento State took a one-run lead with three in the sixth inning. Brent Hottman drove in one on a sacrifice fly before Turner doubled center to drive in a pair.
In the seventh, however, Air Force jumped back on top. With the bases loaded, Matt Thorne blasted a 0-1 pitch off the scoreboard in left center for a grand slam – the first at John Smith Field this season.
Down three runs, the Hornets used their own big fly in the seventh to cut the lead down. After Will Soto doubled to right, Blake Miller launched his team-best third home run of the season over the left field fence.
But the Hornets, who came back to win in each of the three previous games of the series (one run in game one, two runs in the second game, one run game three) could not complete the season series as the Falcons won by one run.
Thorne led the Falcons offensively with four RBIs while Miller and Turner each had a pair of RBIs. Justin Higley and Soto both went 3-for-5 while Turner went 3-for-4 at the plate.
Sacramento State will host Fresno State next weekend at John Smith Field, with a four-game Western Athletic Conference series starting Thursday afternoon.
Air Force 8, Sacramento State 7 (Apr 17, 2011 at Sacramento, Calif.)
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Air Force........... 220 000 400 - 8 8 0 (14-22)
Sacramento State.... 011 003 200 - 7 13 2 (13-25)
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Pitchers: Air Force - CARLEY, Sean; BAKER, Alex(6); COLANGELO, Stephen(8). Sacramento State -
Mendonca, Tanner; Amaral, Steven(7); Kuykendall, Sam(7); Lukes, Shea(9).
Win-BAKER, Alex(2-2) Save-COLANGELO, Stephen(5) Loss-Amaral, Steven(1-1) T-2:33 A-324
HR AF - THORNE, Matt (2).
HR SAC - Miller, Blake (3).
Weather: 74 degrees, clear and sunny
