BASEBALL ROLLS IN SERIES OPENER, DEFEATS DARTMOUTH, 11-3
3/15/2012
Rhys Hoskins hit his second grand slam of the season in a win against Dartmouth.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Sacramento State baseball team jumped on Dartmouth early and rolled over the Big Green, 11-3, on Thursday afternoon in the opening contest of a five-game series at John Smith Field.
The Hornets (7-9) scored four runs in the first inning and tacked on five more in the seventh, including a a grand slam by freshman Rhys Hoskins, en route to a big win. They tallied a season-high 11 runs total on a season-best 18 hits with no errors. Sacramento State accumulated more than 18 hits just twice last season, with both coming in back-to-back games in a series at New Mexico State in May. The Big Green (0-4) had three runs on 11 hits with two errors.
Sacramento State starter Hunter Greenwood (2-2) earned his second second win of the season after allowing three runs on six hits in six innings with five strikeouts and four walks. Dartmouth starting pitcher Kyle Hunter (0-1) took the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) on 12 hits in 5.2 innings with six strikeouts and one walk.
The Hornets started off strong with four runs in the first inning. After a strikeout in the first at-bat, David Del Grande reached on a throwing error by Dartmouth shortstop Joe Sclafani. Will Soto singled up the middle and moved to third on a double by Hoskins, which scored Del Grande. Derrick Chung singled to score Soto and Hoskins scored on Trevor Paine's single in the next at-bat. Andrew Ayers smacked the Hornets' fifth hit of the inning to score Chung and the rout was on.
Dartmouth narrowed Sacramento State's lead to just one run when they scored two in the second, on Jeff Keller's two-run home run, and another run in the third. But the Hornets pushed back with one in the fifth and another in the sixth.
With a 6-3 advantage, the Hornets blew open the game in the seventh. Ayers singled to start the inning and moved to third after Brent Hottman's single and a balk on Dartmouth pitcher Marco Mariscal. Ayers scored on Scotty Burcham's single and the bases were loaded with no outs after Kyle Moses' bunt single.
After new pitcher Max Langford recorded two outs, Hoskins stepped to the plate and, on a 2-2 pitch, blasted a grand slam over the fence in center field. It was the freshman's second grand slam of the season as he also went yard with the bases loaded at Pacific on Feb. 28. Hoskins leads the team with three home runs, a .426 batting average, 15 RBIs, a .723 slugging percentage and a .460 on-base percentage.
Hoskins went 3-for-5 with five RBIs and two runs against Dartmouth while eight other Hornets scored a run and six others had a single RBI.
After Greenwood was pulled in the seventh, Sacramento State relievers Daniel Kopas, Tyler Hoelzen and Brandon Creel combined to give up five hits in three innings but held the Big Green scoreless.
Sacramento State and Dartmouth are scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. on Friday but rain is expected in the area. Please check www.hornetsports.com for any cancellation or rescheduling announcements.
Sacramento State 11, Dartmouth 3 (Mar 15, 2012 at Sacramento, Calif.)
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Dartmouth........... 021 000 000 - 3 11 2 (0-4)
Sacramento State....400 011 50X - 11 18 0 (7-9)
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Pitchers: Dartmouth - Hunter, Kyle; Mariscal, Marco(6); Langford, Max(7); Concato, Louis(8) and
O'Dowd, Chris. Sacramento State - Greenwood, Hunter; Kopas, Daniel(7); Hoelzen, Tyler(7);
Creel, Brandon(9) and Chung, Derrick.
Win-Greenwood, Hunter(2-3) Loss-Hunter, Kyle(0-1) T-2:26 A-54
HR DART - Keller, Jeff (1).
HR SAC - Hoskins, Rhys (3).
Weather: Cold with rain and wind
Mariscal faced 3 batters in the 7th.
