Baseball Drops First Game of River City Classic

Friday, February 20

Sacramento, CA

1:30 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

#at Sacramento State

Baseball Drops First Game of River City Classic

2/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Feb. 20, 2004

Box Score

Sacramento, CA - The Saint Mary's baseball team lost their first game of the River City Classic 8-2 to host Sacramento State on Friday at Hornet Field in Sacramento, CA. The Gaels fall to 3-7 on the season, and will face Washington State in Game 2 of the tournament at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Hornet Field.

Sacramento State junior Ethan Katz hurled a four-hit shutout through seven innings while the Hornets drove in eight runs on 12 hits.

The Hornets are now 8-4 on the year while Saint Mary's dropped to 3-7. Earlier in the day, Washington State defeated Santa Clara, 5-3, before San Francisco shut out Cal Poly, 2-0.

Sacramento State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning after an RBI single to left field by junior Brett Flowers. With one out, junior Craig Johnson singled down the right field line and then stole second. With two outs, Flowers laced a shot to left allowing Johnson to score from second base.

The Hornets made it 3-0 in the third when junior Andy Hnilo hit a two-run home run over the left field wall. With two out, Flowers doubled to left center. In the next at-bat, Hnilo recorded his second home run of the season. Sacramento State added another run in the fourth after Johnson drove in Arroyo from third with an RBI groundout to second base. With two out, Arroyo doubled to right center and then advanced to third on a balk by Gael starter Allan Lobban.

Sacramento State increased its lead to 7-0 in the fifth when juniors Buddy Morales and Ronnie Machado, Jr., each recorded an RBI hit in the inning. With two out, juniors Bret LeVier and Ryan Browne hit back-to-back singles. In the next at-bat, Morales hit an opposite field single to right field to drive in LeVier from second. After Morales advanced to second on the throw home, Machado, Jr., doubled to right center to end the Hornet scoring.

Saint Mary's got on the scoreboard with two runs in the eighth after RBI singles by Gilbert Gil and Delaney Gallagher. With two outs, Mike Sansoe reached on a fielding error by LeVier at short. After advancing on a wild pitch, Gil laced a single to right field to score Sansoe. After advancing to second on a base hit to right by Bryan Byrne, Gallagher singled to right to score Gil from second.

The Hornets added another run in the bottom of the eighth when Arroyo crushed a solo home run to left field that bounced off the top of the top-left corner of the Hornet Field scoreboard.

Katz earned the win (3-0) after scattering four hits while walking one and striking out four in 7.0 innings. The Los Angeles native has now won his last two decisions and leads all starters with three wins and 21.1 innings pitched. He also lowered his ERA from 6.28 to 4.22. Sophomore James Wheeler sealed the game with two innings of relief.

Lobban (0-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up seven runs on 10 hits while walking three and striking out four in 5.0 innings.

Arroyo, who extended his team-high hitting streak to 12 games, finished 2-for-4 with two runs, a double, a home run and an RBI. Flowers and LeVier also finished 2-for-4 in the contest while Johnson added two steals.

Byrne, Gallagher and Stefan Foushee finished with two hits each to lead the Gael offense.

Sacramento State will next face San Francisco in Game 5 of the River City Classic at Hornet Field on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 1:30 p.m. Washington State and Saint Mary's will square off in the morning game at Hornet Field (10 a.m.) before Santa Clara and Cal Poly end the second day of action at Beaver Field (American River College) at 5 p.m.