SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Vikings found themselves on the wrong end of an extra-inning pitching duel after the Sacramento State Hornets hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to open the three-game series with a 1-0 win Thursday afternoon at Shae Stadium in Sacramento, Calif. 
 
The Portland State offensive struggles continued against Sacramento State. The Vikings were held off the base paths through the first five innings. Marissa Bruno tallied Portland State's first hit of the game with a double to left-center field with one out in the top of the sixth. After the next batter lined out to third base Tayler Gunesch came up to bat for the third and final time. 
 
Gunesch brought a 19-game hitting streak into Thursdays game. She flied out to left and then grounded out to short in her first two at bats. With Bruno at second in the sixth, Gunesch hit a sinking line drive into the gap between third and short. The shortstop made a great shoe-string catch to not only maintain the scoreless tie but also end Gunesch's career-high hitting streak. 
 
Alyssa Burk picked up a pair of Big Sky Conference wins last week and picked up right where she left off against the Hornets. Sacramento State loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second. Burk induced a pop out to third base for the final out of the inning to get out of the jam. 
 
Burk worked around two walks in the third before working a perfect fourth inning. She worked her way around a two-out error in the fifth before once again working a perfect inning in the sixth. 
 
Sacramento State loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Burk once again worked her way out of the bases-loaded jam with a pop out to third for the final out to send the game to extra innings. 
 
After the Vikings went in order in the top of the eighth, Burk induced a fly ball out for the first out in the bottom of the eighth. The next batter hit the game-winning walk-off home run on a pitch that Burk wishes she had back. The one pitch should not negate the terrific pitching performance she had on the evening. 
 
Burk allowed one earned run on four hits, while walking six and striking out seven over 7 1/3 innings pitched. She picked up the loss to fall to 6-10 overall on the year. Over the last four conference games, Burk is 2-1 with an 0.55 ERA after allowing just two earned runs over 25 2/3 innings. 
 
Sacramento State's Celina Matthias allowed two hits over eight innings. She did not walk a batter and struck out nine in the win. 
 
Due to inclement weather in the forecast for Friday, Portland State and Sacramento State will close out the three-game series with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 7 starting at 1 p.m. PT.