Blake Miller went 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI but the Hornets lost at New Mexico State.
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State's Parker Hipp hit a walk-off double and the Sacramento State baseball team, which rallied back from a six run deficit in the fifth inning, lost 8-7 on Friday evening in the first of a four-game Western Athletic Conference series.
The Hornets dropped to 15-32 (2-11 WAC) after the loss while the Aggies improved to 31-14 (6-7 WAC) following the win.
New Mexico State reliever Scott Coffman (3-0) earned the win while Sacramento State reliever Andrew Galvan (0-6) took the loss.
It was scoreless heading into the bottom of the third inning, where the Aggies scored six runs on five hits to chase Sacramento State starter Karl Maas from the game.
After Maas was pulled, freshman Sam Kuykendall turned in one of his best performances of the season. Kuykendall allowed just one run on two hits in five innings with two walks and four strikeouts. His effort gave the Hornets' offense a chance to battle back.
The Hornets scored five runs in the fourth inning to make it a one run game. Will Soto started the rally by earning a walk and, after a strike out, moved to second on Blake Miller's single through the right side. David Del Grande singled to center to drive in Soto while pushing Miller to second. Andrew Ayers followed with a double to score Miller and send Del Grande to third. The bases were loaded on Derrick Chung's walk and in the next at-bat, Kirby Young's ground ball turned into an RBI fielder's choice when Chung was out at second but Del Grande scored on the play. Jake Chilton then reached on an error by the first baseman, which scored Ayers from third. A flyout to right ended the inning.
But the Hornets were not done. In the fifth, Soto drew a walk to start the inning once again and eventually came home from second to tie the game on Miller's RBI single to left.
In the seventh inning, Hunter Adrian led off with his third home run of the season, a solo shot to deep right center, which gave the Hornets their first lead of the game, 7-6.
But in the bottom of the seventh inning, New Mexico State tied up the game with a sacrifice fly.
Still tied up in the bottom of the ninth inning, Hipp doubled to right center to score Wesley Starkes from second to win in walk-off fashion.
The Hornets tied their season high with 13 hits.
The teams will meet tomorrow afternoon for a doubleheader before concluding the series with a game on Sunday.
New Mexico State 8, Sacramento State 7 (May 06, 2011 at Las Cruces, N.M.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sacramento State.... 000 510 100 - 7 13 0 (15-32, 2-11 WAC)
New Mexico State.... 006 000 101 - 8 9 1 (31-14, 6-7 WAC)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Sacramento State - Maas, Karl; Kuykendall, Sam(4); Galvan, Andrew(9).
New Mexico State - Reid, Dan; Renteria, Gerardo(7); Coffman, Scott(7).
Win-Coffman, Scott(3-0) Loss-Galvan, Andrew(0-6) T-2:45 A-199
HR SAC - Adrian, Hunter (3).
Weather: Mostly Sunny; Upper 80s
