Baseball drops three, faces Fullerton next

Sac State baseball will next travel to Cal State Fullerton this weekend for a three-game series against the Titans. Cherrie Ostrowski/State Hornet

It was a seemingly endless weekend.

While the Hornet baseball team was looking for only its second win in 10 tries, they eventually drove away from Reno with three more losses, dropping to an overall record of 14-33, 4-17 in Big West Conference play.

“We’re having a tremendous amount of problems with breaking pitches,” head coach John Smith said. “When we do get the fastball, we are not taking care of business and we are not able to score a lot of runs.”

That wasn’t the case with the Hornets opponent. The Nevada Wolf Pack beat the Hornets 5-2, 16-4 and 19-7 during a three-day series that started Friday at Peccole Park.

“We were rocking and rolling after the Hawaii trip.” Smith said. “This team had a chance to have five or six guys hitting strong all the time. I have never had a team where everybody goes cold all at the same time. Sometimes slumps are contagious too.”

Junior pitcher Pat Edwards (4-7) earned the loss on Friday after pitching eight innings, giving up nine hits and two walks while striking out four batters.

“We didn’t pitch real well, and we hit okay,” Edwards said. “But they hit the ball really well. We were playing catch-up all weekend.”

The crowd didn’t help either. The average attendance for the three games was more than 1,100 people.

“The atmosphere is great there,” Edwards said. “The people really support that team. When we got there, I didn’t think it was going to be a distraction, but people were there for the batting practice. That place is a lot better than some of the bigger schools we have been to, including places like Stanford.”

Nevada coach Gary Powers said his team is still trying to learn consistency on both ends of a pitch.

“Friday was a real well-played baseball games on both sides,” Powers said. “The wind was blowing out a little and our guys were swinging to hit home runs. They came back around on Saturday and Sunday and tried to hit the line drive. We were much more effective that way offensively.

“Our pitchers hurt themselves a lot and got behind with a lot of batters. Most of the Sacramento runs scored came as a result of walks and hit batters.”

Powers said the Hornets deserve more credit for their play over the season.

“Sac State is a much better team than their record shows,” Powers said. “We hit a team funk early in the season also, we’ve just been lucky to gradually get everyone back.”

What doesn’t help the Hornets is the next opponent. The team travels to Fullerton to play a team that has consistently been ranked in the top 10 in the nation during conference play.

“I want the team to believe in themselves,” Smith said. “Because these guys still have the capability to instantly turn it around. We have to try to be prepared to play Fullerton and stay focused. As long as this team respects the game, I will feel like we’ve accomplished something.”

Edwards said the team could use this weekend as a way to prepare for the next season.

“It’s a learning experience for us,” Edwards said. “We just need to turn it into something we can build on for next year. There is a great group coming back next year and it is truly going to be a different team. This can be a positive thing for next year.”