SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Jack Saker singled home Jason Janesko in the top of the 12th and Matt Speicher came through in the clutch on the mound as the Saint Joseph's baseball team topped Sacramento State, 5-4, in 12 innings at John Smith Field on Friday night.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Sacramento State (1-4) had plenty of traffic on the basepaths early on, but Christian Coppola stranded singles runners in each of the first three innings to keep the game scoreless.
 
• The Hornets threatened in the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out, but Coppola fanned the final three hitters of the inning before striking out the side in the fifth to end his outing.
 
• Saint Joseph's (2-3) put its first runners aboard in the top of the seventh and made them count.  Alex Kelsey reached on a throwing error and moved up to second to lead off the inning.  Three batters later, Blake Primrose tripled to center past a diving outfielder; the resulting relay throw bounded into the Hornet dugout and Primrose was awarded home to give the Hawks a 2-0 lead.
 
• The Hornets answered immediately, however, as three doubles in a span of four batters knotted the game at 2-2.
 
• The hosts looked primed to go ahead in the bottom of the eighth, putting runners on second and third with one out, but Andrew Gaines notched back-to-back strikeouts to keep things tied.
 
• A fast start to the ninth almost fell by the wayside for the Hawks, as consecutive infield singles were erased on a fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt attempt and a runner being thrown out at home on a single.  But with runners on first and second and two down, Janesko ripped a double that scored Primrose and Joey Pagano to give the Hawks a 4-2 lead.
 
• The Hornets struck back in the bottom of the frame, loading the bases with nobody out before a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly tied the game at 4-4 with one away.  Sacramento State would have runners at second and third with one out, but Speicher came on and recorded a pair of strikeouts to send the game to extra innings.
 
• Speicher stranded two runners in each of the 10th and 11th innings before the Hawks broke through in the top of the 12th.  With one out, Janesko doubled to put the go-ahead run in scoring position; two batters later, Saker singled to center to bring home Janesko and give the Hawks the lead.
 
• Sacramento State put the tying run on second with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but Speicher battled back from a 3-0 count and struck out Erick Dessens to end the game.
 
BEHIND THE BOX SCORE
• Speicher allowed three hits and struck out seven across three and two-thirds innings of shutout relief to earn the win.  Devin James took the loss after allowing a run on two hits in one inning of work.
 
• Coppola allowed four hits while striking out 11 in five shutout innings in his first start as a Hawk.
 
• Ethan Lay was perfect through six innings for Sacramento State and pitched into the ninth, allowing four runs, two of them earned, on six hits while striking out 13.
 
• Primrose and Janesko had two hits apiece for the Hawks, while Janesko drove in two runs and Primrose scored twice.
 
• The Hawk pitching staff recorded 22 strikeouts and stranded 17 Hornet baserunners on the night.  The 22 strikeouts are a single-game program record, eclipsing the previous mark of 18 Saint Peter's hitters fanned on March 24, 2010.
 
UP NEXT
The teams will continue the series on Saturday.