SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Despite leading twice in Sunday's series finale against the visiting Dixie State Trailblazers, Sacramento State was unable to come away with the series sweep, falling to the Trailblazers, 7-5, at John Smith Field.

For Sacramento State (17-6, 10-2 WAC), the loss snaps an eight-game win streak. The loss was also the first at home this season for the Hornets, who are now 7-1 at the John. Dixie State is now 6-15 overall and 4-8 in league play.

The Hornets struck first in Sunday's series finale, normally a good sign for a team that entered the day 13-2 when scoring the first run of the game. Sacramento State took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Ryan Walstad solo home run, his second of the season.

The lead was short-lived, though, as Dixie State scored three times in the top of the third to go ahead, 3-1. All three runs came against Hornets' freshman starter Noah Takacs, who, despite allowing three runs in three innings, pitched well for the Hornets on Sunday. Takacs walked just one while striking out three and fell victim to a couple of weak base hits in the third.

Sacramento State had an answer though, and that answer came off the bat of Trevor Doyle in the home half of the third. With two on and nobody out, Doyle sent a liner screaming down the right field line. The ball hung fair just long enough to clang off the right field foul pole for a three-run home run. 

The blast was Doyle's second career home run and put the Hornets back ahead, 4-3. Doyle's first career blast came just last weekend on the road at Utah Valley.

The sophomore outfielder is having an excellent first third of the season. He is one of two Hornets to have appeared in all 23 games this season and is hitting .350 with a team-leading 19 walks. His .480 OBP is second best on the team.

Dixie State battled back yet again, scoring a two in the fifth to retake the lead. Although the Hornets scored in the sixth to tie the game at five, Sacramento State left the bases loaded to end the frame and leave the game tied.

The Trailblazers took back the lead for the third time in the seventh, scoring on back-to-back doubles against Hornets reliever Travis Martizia (2-1), who suffered his first loss of the year. The visiting Trailblazers added an insurance run in the ninth. Both runs were driven in by Dixie State's Cade Spurlin, who entered the game in the seventh as a pinch-hitter. He finished 2-for-2 with a triple, a double, and two RBIs.

After scoring four runs on five hits through the first three innings, Sacramento State managed just one more run on one hit of the final six innings. The Hornets went down in order in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.

Sunday's loss snapped Sacramento State's eight-game win streak and also thwarted the team's efforts (for now) for the best start in program history. The 2021 Hornets are even with the 1993 squad, which started that season 17-6 overall, as well.

Despite wrapping up a four-game conference series Sunday afternoon, the Hornets will play one more before taking a break. Up next is a Monday afternoon non-conference matchup with the visiting Stanford Cardinal at 3 p.m. at John Smith Field.

The trip is Stanford's first to Sacramento since the 2008 season when the Hornets beat the then #17 Cardinal, 5-3.

Monday's game against Stanford will stream live online on the WAC Digital Network with live stats available from HornetStats.com. As always, direct links for video, live stats, news and notes, and more can be found on the Sacramento State baseball schedule online at HornetSports.com.