Facing a talented Sacramento State squad, the WSU baseball team got off to a dreary start to open its season.

After Friday night’s game was postponed due to rain, the Cougars (1-2) dropped both games of a doubleheader to the Hornets (2-1) on Saturday. However, three eighth-inning runs in Sunday’s game propelled WSU to its first win of the season by a score of 4-3.

Junior third baseman Shane Matheny got the Cougars’ season started with a bang in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader, jumping on the first pitch of his season-opening at-bat in the top of the third and roping a solo homer off the right foul pole to give WSU a 1-0 lead.

Redshirt junior left-hander Damon Jones surrendered just one run on two hits in his start but struggled with his command early on, walking three batters and pitching around the strike zone.

Even though Jones lasted just four innings, the Cougars’ middle-relief pitchers kept the team level with Sac State. However, the game turned in the eighth inning when a 2-2 tie quickly turned into an eight-run deficit for the Cougars.

The Hornets’ explosive eighth inning started with a walk to open the frame by junior right-hander Colby Nealy to put a runner on first with no outs. Nealy retired the next hitter, but plunked consecutive batters to load the bases with one down. Soon after, Nealy hit the next batter he faced to give the Hornets the lead and leave the bases juiced.

With two outs in the frame, an error on a ground ball by WSU kept the Hornets’ eighth inning alive and brought in another run to up their lead to 4-2. In the following at-bat, Sac State sophomore James Outman cleared the bases with a triple to pile on three more runs and effectively end the game.

WSU was retired in order in the top of the ninth to notch a 10-2 season-opening victory for the Hornets.

Game two of the doubleheader followed a series of similar mistakes committed by WSU en route to a 6-4 loss.

The Cougars took an early lead with a solo home run by sophomore left fielder Justin Harrer in the fourth inning and extended their lead when a sacrifice fly from Harrer one inning later brought in another run.

After throwing four scoreless frames to start the game, the Hornets nicked WSU junior right-hander Ryan Walker for a run in the bottom of the fifth and began to tee off on the starter in the sixth inning.

Sac State led off the inning with three straight hits that resulted in three runs to knock Walker out of the game and take a 4-2 lead entering the final three innings.

WSU immediately erased the two-run deficit, as Harrer drove in junior first baseman James Rudkin and freshman second baseman Dillon Plew to tie the game at four in the top of the seventh. The rally was short-lived though, as the Cougars’ pitching and defense imploded in the bottom-half of the seventh.

Without recording a hit in the inning, the Hornets took a 6-4 lead to seal the final margin of victory in the game. A pair of fielding errors, coupled with a hit batter, brought in the Hornets first run in the inning. A walk and a wild pitch followed in the next two at-bats to plate another unearned run for Sac State. The Cougars made five errors combined in the doubleheader.

The Cougars worked past their offensive and fielding struggles on Sunday to claim a hard-earned win and avoid a sweep.

Junior outfielder J.J. Hancock got WSU on the board early in the game, driving in redshirt junior centerfielder Dugan Shirer to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead in the top of the third.

Junior lefthander Cody Anderson got the nod from Head Coach Marty Lees as the team’s starting pitcher and had a solid first outing, giving up just two runs and striking out seven in four-and-two-thirds innings of work.

Anderson kept the Hornets’ bats at bay early on, and the WSU bullpen coughed up just one run in four-and-one-third innings of work.

Trailing 3-1 entering the eighth inning, Hancock again kick-started the WSU bats, doubling with one down in the frame. A single from Harrer two at-bats later drove in Hancock to bring the Cougars within one. Harrer’s RBI set the stage for sophomore catcher Cory Meyer’s go-ahead, two-out blast.

With the count 0-1, Meyer blasted the next pitch over the left field wall to put the Cougars up one. Sophomore righthander Parker McFadden tossed a perfect eighth inning to keep the Cougars’ lead intact before junior lefthander Scotty Sunitsch recorded his first save of the season in the ninth with two strikeouts.

The series finale was scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday but was cancelled due to rain and will not be made up. WSU will remain in California this week and begin a four-game set with Loyola Marymount University on Friday.