PREVIEW
• After 26 non-league games, Sacramento State (15-11) will finally jump into Big Sky Conference play this week against Northern Colorado (12-14).
• The two teams will play a three-game series at Shea Stadium, beginning with a doubleheader on Friday, followed by a single game on Saturday. First pitch on both days is noon.
• All three games will stream on ESPN+ with play-by-play announcer Will Schilling on the call.
• The Hornets are the only team in the six-member Big Sky that currently has a winning record (15-11). Northern Colorado is 12-14, and everyone else in the league is seven games below the .500 mark, or worse.
• The two biggest surprises in the Big Sky have been defending champion Weber State posting a 6-20 record, and Montana entering the week with a 5-23 mark. The Hornets and Weber State were picked as co-favorites in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll while Montana was picked fourth.
• Sacramento State is 95-57 in league play during head coach Lori Perez's tenure. That included a second place finish a year ago and an appearance in the Big Sky championship game.
• The Hornets are 8-4 at home this season, and last Wednesday's loss to Fresno State snapped a six-game home winning streak.
• Sacramento State was 8-1 at home vs. Big Sky opposition a year ago, which included winning each of its final seven home contests vs. conference opposition.
• Northern Colorado, picked last in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll, was off to a very nice start to the season until going 0-4 at the Shocker Invitational in Wichita last week. The Bears are 1-6 on the road this season.
• Sacramento State is 26-6 all-time against Northern Colorado, which includes taking two of three from the Bears in Greeley a year ago. The Hornets are 11-2 when the teams play at Shea Stadium.
• A Sacramento State pitcher has earned Big Sky Pitcher of the Week honors five straight weeks. Sophomore left-hander Caroline Evans received her first-ever weekly accolade on Monday after throwing her first career shutout (a 5-hitter) last weekend at Pacific.
• Prior to Evans, senior right-hander Marissa Bertuccio had earned four straight Big Sky weekly pitcher accolades. In fact, Bertuccio has earned a conference-record 14 Big Sky Pitcher of the Week awards during her career.
• Currently, Evans (1.60) and Bertuccio (2.11) are first and second in the Big Sky in ERA.
• Speaking of Evans, she has a career-high streak of 24 consecutive innings with allowing an earned run. That dates back five appearances, and she has lowered her ERA from 3.86 to its current mark of 1.60 over that span.
• Senior third baseman Lewa Day hit her 40th career home run on Saturday at Pacific, and she is now just four homers shy of the school record of 44, set by Suzy Brookshire.
• Junior Leandra Coronado moved into the starting shortstop role four games ago, and has hit safely in each of those contests, going 5-for-9 with a pair of walks. In addition, she has yet to commit an error at the position. Prior to Coronado, Hornet shortstops had committed nine errors.
• Outfielder Alexis Parish (.299 batting average) has struck out just twice in 67 at-bats. She is currently the 15th toughest player in the nation to strikeout - one K every 33.5 at-bats. She went the first 59 at-bats of the season without striking out.
• Rylee Gresham is 4-for-7 with a pair of RBIs in 11 pinch hitting appearances.
• As a team, the Hornets are batting .336 with runners in scoring position, which includes four regulars hitting for very high marks with RISP - Alexis Parish (.444), Lewa Day (.417), Carley Morfey (.393) and Katie Marsh (.391). Gresham is 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
• Utility players Lexie Webb and Milan Machado-Buckley have both been lost for the season due to injury. Both are power hitters and would have been fixtures in the Hornets' lineup.
• Of the Hornets' 15 wins, seven have been of the comeback variety. Of those seven comeback wins, Sacramento State trailed in the fifth inning or later in five of them.