SACRAMENTO -- Finally home following a 10-day road swing through Texas and Louisiana, the Sacramento State baseball team opens a run of four straight at home this week with a battle against Menlo College on Monday night (April 3) at 6 p.m. at John Smith Field. The early-week contest precedes a return to Western Athletic Conference play later this week with a three-game series against Utah Valley beginning Thursday (April 6).
PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Menlo College (7-25, 3-13 GSAC) at Sacramento State (13-14, 3-6 WAC)
WHEN: Monday, April 3, 2023
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
BUY TICKETS: HornetSports.com
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SCOUTING MENLO COLLEGE…
The Oaks enter the week with a 7-25 overall record and a 3-13 mark in Golden State Athletic Conference and have lost their last five straight after being swept in a conference series on the road at The Master's University in Santa Clarita, Calif., by a combined score of 49-34... Menlo is just 2-14 away from home and have a game at William Jessup on Tuesday following Monday's game against Sacramento State… Senior infielder Anthony Masetti leads all regulars with a .345 average to go along with seven home runs and 28 RBI as well as 32 runs scored… Senior first baseman Sage Pera is batting .278, but paces the team with nine home runs and 32 RBI, slugging .649 on the year… The Oaks' pitching staff has combined for a 7.37 ERA in 32 games, striking out 228 batters in 263.2 innings, while opponents are hitting .286 against them this year.
SERIES NOTES...
According to records that date back to the 1988 season, the Hornets have never lost to the Oaks, leading the all-time series by a 7-0 count… The two schools haven't met on the diamond since 2014, when Sacramento State posted a 7-1 victory at home on April 29… Six of the seven meetings have been played at John Smith Field… The Hornets have reached double-digit runs in four of the seven meetings and lead the all-time scoring in the series by a 90-29 count.
HORNET QUICK HITS…
• Sacramento State enters Monday's game after dropping two of three at Stephen F. Austin in conference play over the weekend, posting its lone win in the series with a 17-3 victory in seven innings in game two on Saturday.
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen will face his alma mater for the second time as head coach of the Hornets, after winning the first back in 2014.
• Christiansen graduated from Menlo College with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1998 and was as an assistant coach with the Oaks from 1997-99 before serving one season as head coach in 2002 — the first head coaching position of his career.
• Monday marks the Hornets' sixth midweek game of the season after they suffered their first loss in such contests at Louisiana Tech on March 28 by a 14-4 score, falling to 4-1 on the year (3-0 at home).
• However, Sacramento State has still won seven of its last nine midweek games dating back to last year.
• The Hornets are batting .314 in their five previous midweek games, outscoring the opposition by a 38-30 count while holding opponents to a .259 average.
• Senior Martin Vincelli-Simard is the team's leading hitter through five midweek contests, batting .500 (9-for-18) with a pair of home runs, eight RBI, and nine runs scored.
• Sacramento State has also posted midweek wins over Nevada (9-4) on March 2, UC Davis (9-6) on March 7, Fresno State (9-0) on March 15, and San Jose State (7-6) on March 22.
• Junior Gunner Gouldsmith continued his torrid season at the plate last week against Louisiana Tech and Stephen F. Austin, batting .444 (8-for-18) with five runs scored, a home run, and four RBI, while collecting multiple hits in all three games against the Lumberjacks.
• Thanks to that start, Gouldsmith enters the week ranked fourth in the WAC in batting average (.438), ninth in slugging (.630), and third in on-base percentage (.512).
• Gouldsmith is one of six players in the WAC to rank among the top 10 in all three of those categories entering the week along with Grand Canyon's Jacob Wilson (2nd-5th-4th) and Homer Bush, Jr. (3rd-10th-1st), Sam Houston's Joe Redfield (5th-8th-5th), Tarleton's Mason Hammonds (8th-7th-7th), and Abilene Christian's Grayson Tatrow (10th-1st-8th).
• Freshman Wehiwa Aloy also continued to punish opposing pitching, finishing the week with a .444 average while scoring six runs, slugging three home runs, and driving in seven, while slugging 1.111 and posting a 1.585 OPS on the week.
• Aloy had a four-game hitting streak snapped in the opener against Stephen F. Austin, but has collected multiple hits in eight of his last 10 games and leads the team with 14 multi-hit games this season.
• During his last 10 games, Aloy is batting .465 (20-for-43) with 12 runs scored and eight RBI, to go along with four doubles, a pair of triples, and four home runs.
• Aloy enters the week ranked seventh in the WAC in average (.389) and third in slugging (.713), while standing 11th in on-base percentage (.474).
• He is one of five players in the conference slugging better than .700 on the year entering this week's games.
• Aloy also leads the team with his three triples on the year — the most in a single season by a Hornet hitter since Matt Smith legged-out four triples in 2019.
• The Hornet offense continued to show-off its power last week, slugging 10 home runs off the bats of eight different players against the Bulldogs and Lumberjacks.
• Of those 10 home runs, five came in the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader against Stephen F. Austin — the most in a single game since the Hornets slugged five at SeattleU on April 22, 2017.
• Sacramento State now has 35 home runs as a team, ranking second in the Western Athletic Conference entering the week, while Aloy (tied for fourth with seven) and Vincelli-Simard (tied for eighth with six) are ranked among the top 10 individually entering the week.
• Also among those 10 home runs: Griffin Harrison's first career home run and Garet Crenshaw's second of his career (his first since March 2 against Nevada).
• Sophomore Jeffery Heard enters Monday's game owning the team's longest active hitting streak at five games and has reached base safely in each of his last 14 games — second only to Aloy's 19-game streak to start the year.
• Heard has hit safely in 11 of those 14 games, drawing walks in the other three to keep the streak alive.
• Aloy and Jacob Cortez also set career high's with four-hit games in the 17-3 victory over Stephen F. Austin — only the second and third four-hit games by a Hornet this season (Gunner Gouldsmith was 4-for-5 against Central Michigan back on March 9).
• The 17 runs scored in last week's win over Stephen F. Austin were the most since the Hornets defeated Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist) by a 21-4 score on March 4 of last season, while the 21 hits against the Lumberjacks marked the first 20-hit game for the Sacramento State offense since collecting 20 at UC Davis on March 15, 2013, and were the most since the Hornets had 21 hits against Albany on March 31, 2010.
• The 17 runs in the opener and the 13 runs in the nightcap of the doubleheader against the Lumberjacks marked the third and fourth times that the Hornets have scored 10-or-more runs in a game this year, and the first time they have accomplished that feat in back-to-back games since scoring 10 in a loss at Grand Canyon and 11 in a win at Fresno State on May 8 and May 10, respectively, last year.
