Hunter Adrian hit his second home run of the season as the Hornets beat rival UC Davis.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Hunter Adrian hit a two-run homer in the second inning and the Sacramento State baseball team routed rival UC Davis, 11-4, on Wednesday afternoon at John Smith Field.
The win not only put the Hornets back above .500, it netted Sacramento State 2.5 points in the Causeway Cup standings.
After being down 35-5 in the cup following football’s loss to UC Davis on Nov. 19, the Hornets have rallied and are now down just 7.5 points, 45-37.5, with 17.5 points left to be determined. Each year the Causeway Cup scores meetings between the Hornets and Aggies in 17 sports out of 100 total points.
The Hornets (17-16) improved to 33-31 against the Aggies since moving to Div. I (1990) as they scored 11 runs on 13 hits with one error on Wednesday. The Aggies (11-17) scored four runs on 12 hits with no errors.
Adrian’s home run in the second inning sparked the offense early while starting pitcher Ty Nichols (1-3) earned his first career win after limiting the Aggies to just one run on two hits in five innings with five strikeouts and one walk.
UC Davis managed to get three runs in the seventh inning against Sacramento State’s bullpen, but that wasn’t enough to overcome an 8-1 deficit at that point. After scoring twice in the second, the Hornets scored two in the fifth, four in the sixth and three in the seventh.
Freshman Rhys Hoskins extended his team-best hitting streak to 16 games with a two-run single in the fifth.
The Hornets, who entered the game ranked No. 14 in the nation with 70 doubles, had five more against the Aggies – with three of them coming within four at-bats in the three-run seventh inning. In addition to his home run, Adrian went 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs. Freshman Scotty Burcham, sophomore Justin Higley and senior Derrick Chung each had two hits. Burcham tied Adrian with a team-high three runs scored.
Up next for Sacramento State is a three-game Western Athletic Conference series against No. 25 ranked New Mexico State starting at 2 p.m. on Friday at John Smith Field.
