LOS ANGELES -- Sophomore Jeffery Heard's second home run of the season — a two-run shot in the fourth — staked Sacramento State to the early lead, but host and No. 12-ranked UCLA rallied with two runs in the fifth to take the lead for good, handing the Hornets a 3-2 loss on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
It was the second one-run decision of this weekend's Southern California College Baseball Classic for Sacramento State, which fell to 6-3 overall on the season with the loss. The Bruins, meanwhile, remained undefeated at home and improved to 8-2 overall on the year.
Starter Noah Lucchesi (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing only one earned run on five hits over 4.2 innings of work before giving way to the bullpen duo of Jasper Nelson and Max Pettey. Nelson threw 2.2 shutout innings, striking out one while allowing only three hits, while Pettey pitched the final two-thirds of an inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.
Both teams matched one another zero-for-zero through the first three innings until one big swing by Heard put Sacramento State on top. Gunner Gouldsmith led-off the fourth with a single up the middle, setting the table for Heard three batters later, who took a 1-1 offering from starter Alonzo Tredwell (2-0) over the wall in right centerfield for a 2-0 advantage.
The two runs were the first that Tredwell had given up in three starts this season.
UCLA answered in the home half, clawing back one of the runs thanks to a lead-off home run by Duce Gourson to cut the deficit in half, then took the lead one inning later.
After a two-out error extended the inning, Gourson singled up the middle scoring Jack Holman to tie the score, then Kyle Karros followed with a single through the left side, scoring Cody Schrier for the eventual winning run.
Sacramento State could manage only two more baserunners the rest of the way as freshman Wehiwa Aloy singled in the sixth and Josh Rolling collected his second hit of the day with a single in the eighth, but could not muster much more against the Bruin bullpen.
The single by Aloy extended his hitting streak to nine consecutive games to start the year, while Rolling's two hits — combined with his two hits on Friday at USC — extended his hitting streak to four games and gave him four multi-hit games on the year, tying him with Aloy for the team lead in that category.
Tredwell allowed the two runs on four hits over six innings en route to the win for UCLA, striking out nine without a walk in the process. Michael Barnett and Luke Jewett then combined to close out the contest, allowing just one hit and striking out four over the final three innings.
The Hornets close out the weekend on Sunday morning (March 5) at 10 a.m., facing Tulane at Jackie Robinson Stadium. There will be no live stream, but fans can follow along with live stats with the link on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com.
