SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The NM State baseball team scored five runs in the ninth inning, but the comeback came up just short in a 9-6 loss to No. 24 Sacramento State. Down to its last out, Ronnie Allen Jr. singled to score Cal Villareal. Connor Laux doubled and Noah Haupt walked to load the bases for the Aggies down three. Unfortunately, Zerek Saenz grounded out to end the Aggies' comeback

SCORING PLAYS
B1 | Despite not striking for a single hit, the 24th-ranked Hornets got on the board early. A hit-by-pitch followed by a walk to lead off the frame put the hosts in business and a fielder's choice ball to the outfield placed runners on the corners from there. All it took for Sacramento State to take the lead for good was a fly ball to center off the bat of Ryan Walstad for a sacrifice fly which handed the hosts a 1-0 lead.
B3 | Two more fly balls - ones that left the yard - pushed the hosts' lead to 3-0. Walstad and Dawsen Bacho took NM State starter Rorik Maltrud yard in back-to-back at-bats. Those two solo home runs with two out in the innings made NM State's disadvantage a little larger.
T4 | Showing off some extra-base power of their own, the Aggies got on the board. Kevin Jimenez launched the seventh pitch of his at-bat against Sacramento State starter Travis Adams out beyond the right field fence for a solo long ball to pull the visitors within three, 3-1.
B4 | More free bases resulted in more runs for the hosts. Maltrud issued three bases-on-balls before being pulled in favor of Ben Des Rosiers. Not wanting to squander their opportunity, the Hornets received a two-run single from Matt Smith as well as an RBI single off the bat of Walstad to extend their lead to 6-1.
B6 | Another trio of runs were added to the Hornets' lead during the hosts' two-hit sixth. Trevor Doyle turned a leadoff walk into another run with his sacrifice fly before Matt Smith rammed the first pitch he saw from Nick Rogers to left for a two-run homer. That long ball hiked the Hornets' lead to 9-1.
T9 | The Aggies rally started with back-to-back singles from Saenz and Brandon Dieter. Jimenez walked to load the bases, and Ethan Mann drove two home with a single to left field. Villareal kept the scoring rolling with a productive groundout to score Mann to make the score 9-5. Allen Jr. cut the lead to three with a single to right field, but the Aggies left the bases loaded to end the game. 

AT THE DISH

• Six of the nine hits from the Aggies came in the ninth inning. 
• Eight Aggies recorded hits against the Hornets
• Villareal led the Aggie offense with two hits and one RBI

ON THE HILL

• Ben Des Rosiers, Nick Rogers and Joey Arellano kept the Hornets in check in the final six innings, as the three pitchers combined to give up just six hits and three earned runs. 

COMING UP NEXT
• NM State will put the wraps on its four-game WAC series at 24th-ranked Sacramento State Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. MT. Neither team has set a starting pitcher for the series finale at John Smith Field.

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