Junior Marshall Plouffe earned his second-consecutive win.

Sacramento State raised its record to 8-6 on the year while the Gauchos fell to 6-9.

The Hornets took an early 2-0 lead in the fourth after recording three hits, a sacrifice fly and an RBI groudout. Junior Chris Kinsey led off the inning with a sharp single to left field and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Sean Thompson. Junior Mikela Olsen put runners on first and third with a base hit to right field. Junior Jesse Schmidt followed with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Kinsey. With one out, sophomore Bret LeVier singled to left field and junior Rocky Gracio was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Senior Corey Watts finished the Hornets’ scoring with an RBI groundout to short.

Sacramento State increased the lead to 4-0 in the eighth after a home run by Olsen and a sacrifice fly by Gracio. Olsen led off the inning with a towering home run to right field off of Michael Martin. With one out, LeVier singled to left field and advanced to second after Matt Wilkerson was unable to corral the ball. After LeVier advanced to third on a wild pitch, Gracio hit a fly ball to left field for the sacrifice.

UC Santa Barbara finally got on the scoreboard in the eighth after Ziemendorf scored on an RBI single to right field by Matt Stevens. The Gauchos were threatening for more with a man on first and second with one out but freshman Joe Guntz got pinch hitter Greg Powers to strike out swinging. After Guntz walked the bases loaded, junior Renecke Stelzriede struck out pinch hitter Nic Rodriguez swinging to end the threat.

Plouffe (2-1) earned his second-consecutive win for the Hornets after allowing one run on 12 hits while striking out five and walking three.

Stelzriede earned his third save of the season after pitching one and one-third innings of perfect relief. The West Covina, Calif., native did not allow a base runner while recording a strikeout.

Sophomore Everet Rincon, Kinsey, Olsen, Schmidt and LeVier led the Hornet offense with two hits apiece. Olsen, a native of Oakhurst, Calif., hit his third home run of the season and is tied with Schmidt for the team lead.

Sacramento State and UC Santa Barbara will face off again on Saturday, March 1, at 1 p.m. The final game of the series will be on Sunday, March 2, at 1 p.m.

Sacramento State (8-6) 000 200 020 - 4 12 2

UC Santa Barbara (6-9) 000 000 010 - 1 8 3

WP - Marshall Plouffe (2-1)

LP - Sean Thompson (1-3)

SV- Renecke Stelzriede (3)

Marshall Plouffe, Joe Guntz, Renecke Stelzriede and Corey Watts. Sean Thompson, Michael Martin, Jared Edrosolan and Chad Ziemendorf. TOP HITTERS- SAC- Everet Rincon 2x4, Chris Kinsey 2x5, Mikela Olsen 2x4, HR, Jesse Schmidt 2x4, Bret LeVier 2x4. UCSB-Matt Stevens 3x4, Josh Fulton 2x4.

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