MESA, Ariz. - Second-seed NM State earned a walkoff win over third-seed Sacramento State, 5-4, to move to Saturday at the 2016 WAC Tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz.
After four scoreless innings, Trey Stine opened up the scoring in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single that scored Mason Fishback from season. Stine scored a few batters later on a RBI single by Daniel Johnson to give the Aggies the 2-0 lead.
Sacramento State got on the board in the sixth on a single up the middle by Andrew McWilliam to score Trent Goodrich. NM State extended the lead again in the bottom of the inning on a Fisback single that scored Austin Botello. The Hornets tied it up with two runs in the eighth on a single by Vinny Esposito that scoed Dan Deely and McWilliam.
The Aggies scored again in the bottom of the eighth but Sacramento State again answered in the ninth to set up the dramatic bottom of the ninth. Brent Sakurai singled with two outs to get on base and after moving to second on an error by the shortstop, Greg Popylisen singled to right field to score Sakurai from second and give the Aggies the 5-4 win.
Joe Galindo earned the win for NM State. Austin Root took the loss for Sacramento State. NM State moves on to play on Saturday afternoon against the losing team from Friday's final game between Seattle U and Utah Valley.