@NCBearsBaseball Comeback against Sacramento State Falls Short

Friday, April 1

Sacramento, Calif.

4:00 pm

University of Northern Colorado

5-17, 0-1

Sacramento State

15-10, 4-0

Northern Colorado

Sacramento State

Photo by: Rob Trubia

4/1/2016 7:23:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Northern Colorado's comeback effort against Sacramento fell short in an 8-5 game

By: Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Northern Colorado (5-17, 0-1 WAC) baseball team's comeback effort fell just short on Friday afternoon against Sacramento State. The Hornets (15-10, 4-0 WAC) would hold off the Bears 8-5 in UNC's Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opener.

How It Happened
Sac St got out to the early 2-0 lead in the first with an RBI triple from Matt Smith, who would come home himself on a wild pitch from starter Corey Nakakura.

The Bears would tie the game up in the fifth though, Payton Tapia worked a leadoff walk and would later come around as UNC's first run of the game when Nick Tanner hit an RBI single to left center.

Tanner would score after advancing to third from an errant throw from the Sacramento State catcher when he stole second base and then a Jacob Ek single.

Sacramento State would respond in the bottom half of the inning with a leadoff home run from Chris Lewis to go up for good at 3-2.

The Hornets would add on five combined insurance runs in the sixth and seventh to go up 8-2. Those runs would prove to be important in the ninth when UNC tried to comeback.

After a groundout to the shortstop to start the inning, UNC would load the bases on three straight walks from Jake Garcia, Ryan Yamane and Dean Lawson. Tanner would step to the plate and deliver the big hit for UNC with a double to right center to clear the bases and bring UNC within three.

Ek and Cole Maltese would proceed to reach on a hit by pitch and single to once again load the bases for UNC. They would stay that way though as Brett Minnick would strike out swinging and Corey Nakakura would fly out to left center to end the game.

Game Changing Moment
After Northern Colorado tied the game up two in the top of the fifth, Chris Lewis swung the momentum back towards Sacramento State with a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the inning. That home run would help spark a six run output from the Hornets over the next three innings.

Players of the Game
Northern Colorado: Nick Tanner accounted for every run scored by the Bears in some capacity today, driving in four and scoring the last one himself. He was 3-for-5 on the
day, including a pair of doubles.

Sacramento State: Brandon Hunley was a terror to deal with for UNC all day. Although he went a modest 1-for-4 at the plate he reached twice, once on a single and another time on a fielder's choice. He would score on both occasions, stealing three bases during that time as well. Hunley also drove in a run for the Hornets on the day.

Stats of the Game

Northern Colorado was able to set the table in the game, going 4-for-9 to lead off innings, but saw opportunities go to waste leaving nine runners stranded.
UNC's pitchers struggled with their command at times, throwing four wild pitches, with three of those proving costly allowing a Sacramento State player to score on them.
Both UNC and Sac St had the same amount of hits, seven, and errors, one, in the game.

What's Next?
Game two of the series for the teams will take place tomorrow afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. MDT. Tomorrow's probable pitchers are Alex Werbach for Northern Colorado and Max Karnos for Sacramento State.