Issue date: 5/7/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Rebekah MaKieve Eric Fregosi winds up for a pitch during a game against Davis on March 9 at Hornet Field. The Hornets lost 12-3 to the Aggies. [Click to enlarge]

Good news can come in defeat as the Sacramento State baseball team learned this weekend after allowing two runs in the bottom of the ninth in an 8-7 loss to the Hawaii Rainbows Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium. The Hornets learned that they have clinched a spot in the WAC tournament after Louisiana Tech lost to the University of Nevada-Reno Sunday, 7-5.

"That has never really been a goal of ours just to get into the (WAC) tournament," junior shortstop Blake Crosby said. "(The goal) has always been to win the tournament. Now it's all about playing for seeding."

The Hornets are now 11-12 in the WAC and sit in the fifth position in front of New Mexico State in the conference standings. With the loss, Louisiana Tech, sitting in seventh place, will not make the tournament but will host it at J.C Love Field in Rushton, La.

The Hornets swept Louisiana Tech in a three-game set back in early April. The Hornets outscored the Bulldogs 36-13, hitting 12 home runs in what the Sac State players and coaches described as a "hitter-friendly" ball park.

"Besides the obvious that you can hit a lot of home runs, I just think it gives you confidence as a hitter to go up (to the plate) with your approach knowing that no matter where you hit the ball, you're going to hit it hard and it's going to come off the bat good and travel well (in Louisiana)," Crosby said.

It was after the series in Louisiana that the Hornets were at their highest point of the season having amassed a conference record of 8-3. Since then, the Hornets have gone 3-9 inside of the WAC and have been swept by New Mexico State at Hornet Field and lost three out of four to Hawaii this past weekend.

"(Our coaches) have been real positive with everything going on since we've had some rough games (lately)," senior third baseman David Flores said. "They've stuck by us and told us to keep believing in each other."

Crosby said that the determining factor in the team's success will be trying to get back the momentum they had when they left Rushton.

"We try to pick each other up, that's our big thing," Flores said. "It one guys doesn't do well, someone else will pick him up."

"When we come together as a team we pick each other up and we do the little things to win. That's when we are at our best," Crosby said.

The No. 1 and 2 seeds in the WAC standings will get a bye in the tournament which can very influential to its outcome. Crosby said that the team's goal for the near-future will be to get the best seed possible in order to save the pitchers for the latter games of the tournament.

The Hornets will travel to play Nevada-Reno Wolf Pack and the Fresno State Bulldogs respectively for their next two upcoming WAC series. Crosby said it will be crucial for the hitters to keep their rhythm at the plate and for the pitchers to work hard to stay sharp.

"They still need to go out there and throw strikes and do what they need to do. Just like the hitters they can't take any of the pressure off because they have to come out and compete so that we are ready for the tournament."

"I tell the guys to just play the game," assistant coach Don Barbara said back in the last week of April. "If we handle our end of it, we will have a chance to be successful."

Andrew Eggers can be reached at aeggers@statehornet.com

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