First a close defeat in the late innings, then a good old- fashioned shellacking. Some positives though:

Another very solid start by Brett Erwin. You'd scarcely know he spent all of last year in the bullpen

Another quality relief outing From Jake Spillane and a nice season debut for Andres Lara.

And how about the first career homerun for Garrett Kelly ? Apparently our seniors are all motivated to hit homers before they graduate (Briggs+ Van Blake have also gone yard this year).. Sounds like the plot of "American Pie". Hopefully no baked goods will be harmed.

I took in Sac State's game with UOP. I did not know Ugly Old Potatoes had hired former Cleveland Indians' catcher/first baseman Ryan Garko to coach. Apparently Garko is a perfectionist who likes to give a quick hook to pitchers who displease him. Their starter was pitching brilliantly, gives up a solo shot to start the 7th (first run he gave up all night) and he's gone. Relievers got the same treatment. Sac State won 5- 2. It was UOP's first loss of the year.

The tigers are 6- 1 now. Have we gone back to the year 2005 ? Wasn't that the last time UOP was relevant in college baseball? Feels like 2005. Back then I was disliking Ed Sprague, a Stanford alum coach+ now they have another Stanford alum for me to dislike. In Garko's case the Giants traded for him in 2009. He did diddly squat at the plate + helped the Giants miss the playoffs.

It was tough to get a read on Pacific's hitters with this being a low- scoring game. None of them really impressed, although their defense was ok. The starter, Ryan Shreve, was excellent, but the Aggies won't likely face him. They made one ridiculous series of plays that still baffles me. With Sac State runners on 1st + 2nd the catcher had seemingly caught the trailing runner napping + he was a sitting duck, as the lead runner was a statue on the 2nd base bag. They had him in a run- down, but right as they would have tagged him they try to throw the lead runner out at third. Made a bad throw and missed the tag. The trailing runner took 2nd on that play. Next guy up hits a single + both score. Oops ! Sounds like something from a 2016 UCD game. There was a game that year where UCI duped the Aggies twice with similar strategy and stole home on consecutive plays. Baseball hecklers should be drooling over possible puns to use when big hitter James Free comes to the plate. I am glad he doesn't play a position where he can slip and fall..and Tom Petty reference in 5- 4- 3...

Sac State is 3- 3, but their weaknesses right now are hitting and relief pitching. Looked like they would be shut- out but freshman catcher Martin Vincelli- Simard hit the first Hornet homerun over the left field wall to tie the game at 1, and it earned Shreve the boot. Should've left him in. They scored two more off the reliever who followed him. Vincelli- Simard looks like a solid defender, but opposing teams haven't tested his arm much. Good hitter too. Not a fast baserunner though. They pinch- run for him if he gets on in late innings. He's from Quebec, one of several Canadians on the roster.

Sac State entered the game hitting only .206 + that might have gone down despite the win. They'll probably wake up just in time to face the Aggies on Tuesday. That's a given almost every year. The bullpen has more earned runs surrendered than innings pitched. Last year's closer may have already lost his job. The save opportunity went to Travis Martizia, a sophomore with a side- arm delivery. He didn't use that delivery last year, so maybe the coach just missed graduated senior Austin Ragsdale too much. Ragsdale's arm angle was so low I was worried he'd either drag his knuckle on the ground or tweak his neck.

Bats to look out for other than Vincelli- Simard. Soph SS Keith Torres (from HI) has a little power + is a very good defender. Soph Steven Moretto (also from Canada) is a pretty legitimate power threat. For some reason he's been shuffling between 2nd and 3rd this year. RSr CF Bronson Grubbs is avery good defender + patient hitter who does not have a "Death Wish". RJr Matt Smith has been a good table- setter, but they were really counting on him to be a big rbi guy.

Tuesday's starter against the Aggies will probably be freshman Travis Adams, from the United States. He's the #4/mid- week guy + will probably line up for this game because he pitched the Paciific opener on Thursday. Saw him pitch in relief against NDSU, but it wasn't much. He was taken out after getting only 1 or 2 outs and giving up a run. Turned in a solid start against the Tigers, just two runs on 5 hits.

As for the Aggies I imagine Tim Weiser will not start against the hornets, as he did against Nevada. Might pitch in relief for 1- 2 innings though. He pitched 2 innings against ASU today + gave up 7 runs. Performance quality evaluation methods aside you have to throw probably at least 4-5 innings' worth of pitches to give up 7 runs in 2 innings, practically a starter's workload. He wouldn't be a good bet to start again on only 2 days' rest. I would guess it would be be freshman lefty Nathan Lemos or perhaps righty Jake Spillane (on a strict pitch count.