SACRAMENTO — Tyler White and Jacob Cortez each finished with two hits while Cesar Valero tacked on his seventh home run of the season, but visiting California Baptist scored three runs in the final two innings and rallied to defeat Sacramento State, 5-3, on Saturday night at John Smith Field.
The loss dropped the Hornets to 13-19 overall and 5-9 in Western Athletic Conference play. The Lancers improved to 19-12 overall and 8-3 in league games, winning the series with Saturday's victory.
Junior right-hander Tyler Stewart threw a career-high seven innings in the no decision, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out five. It marked his third "quality start" of the season and the third time this season that a Sacramento State starter has pitched at least seven innings in the last two weeks. Kade Brown (1-2) suffered the loss, allowing just one earned run (three total) on four hits while striking out three over his two innings of work.
Nathan Hemmerling (3-2), who pitched the final 1.2 innings, walked just one and struck out a pair to pick up the victory for California Baptist.
White, who finished 2-for-4 at the plate, collected his sixth multi-hit game of the season and his third since returning to the lineup from injury earlier this week. He is batting .500 (8-for-16) with four runs scored in that stretch with three multi-hit performances.
Meanwhile, Cortez's two hits tied a season high and marked his third multi-hit contest of the season and extended his hitting streak to three games.
The Lancers were on the board first with a pair of runs in the top of the third, but the lead didn't last long as the Hornets quickly responded with a trio of scores in the home half of the inning to take the lead.
Junior Matt Masciangelo doubled to lead-off the inning and came around to score three pitches later when White's single to left was misplayed by the outfielder, allowing Masciangelo to safely score after holding up at third, cutting the deficit in half.
With White moving to second on the throw and advancing an extra 90 feet on a wild pitch, sophomore JP Smith followed with a deep fly ball to left, easily scoring White to tie the game.
Valero then wasted little time in untying the game, sending the first pitch he saw over the wall in centerfield for his seventh home run of the season and a 3-2 lead.
The long ball was also the 30th of Valero's Hornet career, tying him for third on the school's all-time list with Steven Moretto (2018-22), Chris Kinsey (2001-03) and Will Fitzpatrick (1990-93). Valero is now five home runs shy of the career record shared by Harvey Hargrove (1995-97) and Martin Vincelli-Simard (2019-23).
Stewart pitched well with the lead, allowing only two baserunners on an error and a walk while retiring the final seven batters he faced before California Baptist rallied.
The Lancers tied the game on a Josh Paino home run in the eighth and then capitalized with the help a pair of errors in the ninth to take the lead for good.
Sacramento State was able to get the tying run to the plate in the ninth after Cameron Sewell drew a one-out walk, but a pair of Hemmerling strikeouts ended the threat.
The Hornets look to salvage a win in the series finale on Sunday (April 7) with first pitch scheduled for Noon.
