SACRAMENTO -- Embarking on the program's longest run of road games in more than two seasons, the Sacramento State baseball team kicks off a stretch of nine straight away from the friendly confines of John Smith Field on Tuesday (April 18) at 6 p.m., with a midweek contest at nationally ranked Stanford. The Hornets then head to the Pacific Northwest for a three-game series at Western Athletic Conference rival SeattleU on April 21-23.
PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Sacramento State (18-18 overall) at No. 9 Stanford (23-10 overall)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 18, 2023
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Stanford, Calif.
STADIUM: Klein Field at Sunken Diamond
WATCH LIVE: Pac-12 Live Stream
LIVE STATS: GoStanford.com
WHAT: Sacramento State (18-18 overall, 6-9 WAC) at SeattleU (11-21, 7-8 WAC)
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, April 21-23, 2023
TIME: 4 p.m. | 2 p.m. | Noon
WHERE: Bellevue, Wash.
STADIUM: Bannerwood Baseball Park
WATCH LIVE: WAC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: GoSeattleU.com - Game 1Â | Game 2Â | Game 3
WEEKLY RELEASE: Sacramento State Game Notes
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SCOUTING STANFORD…
The Cardinal enter the week with a 23-10 overall record and an 11-4 mark in Pac-12 play, including a 13-3 mark at home this season… Stanford ranks as high as No. 8 in the nation by the National College Baseball Writers Association, No. 9 in the national polls by both D1 Baseball and the USA Today Coaches poll, and No. 11 by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America… The Cardinal are coming off a series loss at Oregon, salvaging a 6-4 win in the finale after dropping the first two games (4-0 and 8-1) and are 6-4 in their last 10 games… Junior Tommy Troy leads a group of six regulars batting better than .300 on the year, hitting .391 in 27 games with 31 runs scored, four home runs, and 20 RBI… As a team, Stanford is batting .300 and has slugged .501 on the year… Projected starter Braden Montgomery would be making his second start of the year and sixth appearance overall, posting a 1-1 record with a 5.00 ERA and 13 strikeouts in nine innings, holding opponents to a .250 average… As a squad, the Cardinal staff sports a 5.26 ERA and 337 strikeouts in 291 innings, holding opposing hitters to a .245 average.
SERIES NOTES…
Stanford leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 34-17 count, including a 22-14 mark in the Hornets' Division I era… The two teams haven't met since March 29, 2021, when Sacramento State posted a 3-2 win over the Cardinal at home… That was the first regular season meeting between the two programs in 12 years as the three prior head-to-head match-ups came in the 2017 and 2019 NCAA Regionals… The Hornets are just 9-24 on the road against Stanford, having lost the last four trips to Sunken Diamond since a 6-0 shutout back on March 24, 2007.
SCOUTING SEATTLEU…
The Redhawks enter the week with an 11-21 overall record and a 7-8 mark in WAC play, putting them a game ahead of Sacramento State in the conference standings… SeattleU is scheduled to face Oregon State in a midweek clash on Tuesday (April 18) ahead of its series against the Hornets… Six of the Redhawks' 11 wins have come at home this year where they are 6-7 overall after splitting a pair of games against the University of British Columbia on April 14-15… Prior to that, SeattleU defeated Portland on the road and lost to Washington State at home… Freshman Hudson Shupe is batting a team-high .339 on the year — one of three regulars to hit better than .300 on the season — while senior Matt Boissoneault has slugged a team-high seven home runs to go with 23 RBI… As a team, the Redhawks are batting .266 and slugging .407 on the year, while the pitching staff sports a 6.67 ERA and a .293 average against.
SERIES NOTES…
Sacramento State leads the all-time series with SeattleU by a 24-17 count after splitting a pair of regular season series in 2022: winning two-of-three at home after dropping two-of-three on the road… The Hornets are 12-10 all-time against the Redhawks on the road, winning five of the seven all-time series played on the the opponents' home diamond… Sacramento State last won a series at SeattleU in 2019, taking the final two games of the series after dropping the opener.
A LOOK BACK…
The Hornets are coming off a 2-3 week that saw them play a pair of extra-inning midweek contests and hosting a three-game series against Western Athletic Conference rival UT Arlington at John Smith Field. Sacramento State opened with a wild 11-8 win at Pacific in 10 innings, before falling to UC Davis by a 4-3 score in 11 innings on back-to-back days. The Hornets then sandwiched a pair of two-run losses to the Mavericks around a game-two 8-3 victory, but had the tying runs at the plate in the ninth in both of the defeats.
HORNET QUICK HITS…
• After opening with 16 of their first 20 games at home, Sacramento State opens its longest run of road games in 2023, playing its next nine straight games on the road.
• The nine straight road contests is the longest such run since the Hornets played 12 straight on the road from March 4-21, 2021.
• The Hornets also had a run of seven straight on the road earlier in the year during Spring Break, playing three-game conference series at Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin, with a midweek contest at Louisiana Tech in between the two series.
• Tuesday marks Sacramento State's ninth midweek game of the year, posting a 6-2 record in its previous eight — and winning nine of its last 11 dating back to 2022 — with wins over Nevada (March 2), UC Davis (March 7), Fresno State (March 15), San Jose State (March 22), Menlo College (April 3), and Pacific (April 10).
• The Hornets are 2-1 in road midweek contests after splitting their two games last week with a win at Pacific and a loss at UC Davis — both in extra innings (10 and 11, respectively).
• The Hornets played back-to-back extra-inning games against Pacific and UC Davis for the first time since going 10 innings against New Mexico State and 11 innings against Grand Canyon in the 2019 Western Athletic Conference Tournament on May 25.
• The back-to-back extra-inning games came on back-to-back days for the first time since 2011 when Sacramento State defeated UC Davis, 3-2, in 10 innings on Feb. 21, and fell to Saint Mary's, 2-1, in 11 innings on Feb. 22.
• Senior Martin Vincelli-Simard is the team's leading hitter in midweek contests, batting .500 (9-for-18( with a pair of home runs and eight RBI, slugging .889 with an OPS of 1.480 in five games. Freshman Wehiwa Aloy leads the team in midweek hits with 10, while junior Jorge Bojorquez has scored a team-high 10 runs.
• Junior Cooper Rons is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA in seven midweek appearances, striking out a team-high 15 over 10.2 innings and holding opponents to a .227 average.
• As a team, the Hornets are batting .303 in midweek games and outscoring the opposition by a 62-47 count, while the pitching staff sports a 4.93 ERA (compared to the opponents' 6.43 ERA) while holding hitters to a .258 average and producing a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (82 strikeouts to 29 walks).
• Stanford marks Sacramento State's second nationally ranked opponent of the year after falling at then-No. 12 UCLA on March 4 by a 3-2 score. The Hornets also faced a Grand Canyon squad that was receiving votes nationally in their WAC season opener on March 17-19.
• Six of the Hornets' last eight games have been decided by two runs or fewer, with another decided by three runs.
• Sacramento State racked up 10 hits in its game two win over UTA and 12 more in the series finale — marking the 12th and 13th times this season that the Hornets have finished with 10-or-more hits in a single game.
• A six-run 8th in game two and a five-run sixth in game three against UT Arlington gave the Hornets their 12th and 13th "big innings" with four-or-more runs. Sacramento State is 9-3 this season in games in which it has scored four-or-more runs in an inning.
• JP Smith collected his second game-winning RBI in the team's last three wins in game two against UT Arlington, while Martin Vincelli-Simard scored his second game-winning run.
• Vincelli-Simard leads the team with three game-winning RBI this season, while Gunner Gouldsmith leads the team with four game-winning runs.
• The game two win against the Mavericks was Sacramento State's 11th come-from-behind win this season after trailing 3-2 in the eighth en route to an 8-3 victory.
• The Hornets slugged seven more home runs on the week, bringing their total to 51 on the year — a sum that leads the Western Athletic Conference entering the week (California Baptist is second with 49) and ranks No. 47 in the NCAA as of April 16.
• Of those 51 home runs, 25 of those have come in the last 11 games.
• Sacramento State has hit at least one home run in 26 of its 36 games this season, including the last three straight contests, and has multiple home runs in 11 games.
• The 51 home runs mark the third straight season that the Hornets have hit at least 50 in a year, it's longest such stretch since the 2001 (50), 2002 (60), and 2003 (57) seasons.
• 26 of the team's 51 home runs have been solo shots.
• Individually, freshman Wehiwa Aloy leads all Sacramento State sluggers with nine home runs on the year, ranking in a tie for sixth in the WAC entering the week. Teammates Martin Vincelli-Simard and JP Smith are also among the top 15, standing tied for eighth and 13th, respectively.
• That trio makes Sacramento State one of two schools to have three players ranked among the top 15 in home runs in the WAC along with Abilene Christian's Grayson Tatrow (11), Logan Britt (9), and Tanner Tweedt (7).
• The nine home runs rank third in the program's Division I history by a freshman, trailing only Justin Lamb's 11 in 2009 and Rhys Hoskins' 10 in 2012.
• Freshman JP Smith ranks tied for fifth on that list with his seven home runs, matching Martin Vincelli-Simard's total in 2019, Vinny Esposito's seven in 2015, and Chris Kinsey's seven in 2001.
SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUNS AS A FRESHMAN (Division I only)
1. Justin Lamb, 2009 - 11
2. Rhys Hoskins, 2012 - 10
3. Wehiwa Aloy, 2023 - 9
4. Steven Moretto, 2018 - 8
t5. JP Smith, 2023 - 7
t5. Martin Vincelli-Simard, 2019 - 7
t5. Vinny Esposito, 2015 - 7
t5. Chris Kinsey, 2001 - 7
t9. Brandon Hunley, 2014 - 6
t9. Tim Wheeler, 2007 - 6
t9. Bret LeVier, 2002 - 6
• Since missing two weeks due to injury, VIncelli-Simard has returned to the lineup with a bang, posting multiple hits in each of the three games against UT Arlington and extending his hitting streak to five games — all multi-hit performances.
• During his streak, Vincelli-Simard is batting .545 (12-for-22) with four doubles, three home runs, and nine RBI, raising his average 52 points to .333 on the year.
• Vincelli-Simard's eight home runs this season are second on the team and a single-season career high, surpassing the seven he hit as a freshman.
• Vincelli-Simard has driven in two-or-more runs 12 times this season, giving him 34 such performances in his career — the most of any active Hornet (Jorge Bojorquez is second with 19).
• The tables are turned when it comes to multi-hit games as Bojorquez leads all active Hornets with 41 career multi-hit games to 33 for Vincelli-Simard. Josh Rolling and Cesar Valero are next with 19 each.
• Aloy continues to make an impact on the basepaths, reaching base safely in all five contests last week — and 11 straight dating back to the start of April — walking three times and scoring five runs while collecting five hits.
• Aloy's two-hit game in the game two win over UT Arlington gave him his 18th multi-hit game of the year, matching Jorge Bojorquez's team-high total in 2022. Aloy's next multi-hit performance would be the most since Matt Smith (21), Ryan Walstad (21), and Trevor Doyle (20), all topped 20 games in 2021.
• Freshman catcher Jacob Cortez has embraced the starting role behind the plate for the Hornets, starting all five games last week while batting .476 (10-for-21) with a pair of doubles, three runs scored, and five RBI.
• Cortez's hits have come in bunches this season as the freshman has multiple hits in four of his last five games and seven of his eight games with a hit this year overall.
• Junior right-hander Evan Gibbons tossed his second consecutive "quality start" in game two against UT Arlington, throwing a career-high seven innings while scattering two runs on five hits and striking out three. He also had a "quality start" against Utah Valley seven days earlier, producing the same pitching line over six innings of work.
• Gibbons' outing was the fifth "quality start" by a Hornet pitcher this year and only the sixth time a Sacramento State pitcher has thrown at least six innings in a start this season: Noah Takacs (7.0 innings vs. St. Thomas), Gibbons (6.0 innings vs. Grand Canyon & Utah Valley and 7.0 innings vs. UT Arlington), Noah Lucchesi (6.1 innings vs. Stephen F. Austin), and Jasper Nelson (6.0 innings vs. Utah Valley).
• Cooper Rons, who struck out a Sacramento State career-high six hitters in 3.1 innings of relief in the finale last weekend, ranks No. 21 in the NCAA — and tied for the WAC lead — with his 19 appearances, standing five back of the national lead.
• The Hornet defense turned a season-high four double plays in their game two win over UT Arlington — the most since "turning two" four times at Kanasa on April 28, 2021, and the ninth time this year that they have turned multiple double plays in a game.
• Sacramento State's 34 double plays this season rank No. 8 in the NCAA (Southern Illinois leads the country with 42) and the Hornets stand No. 13 in the nation with 0.94 double plays per game.
