PREVIEW
• Winners of four of the last five games, Sacramento State (18-12, 2-1) jumps back into Big Sky Conference play after a 4-0 home win over Nevada on Tuesday afternoon.
• The Hornets will travel to Missoula for a three-game series Friday-Saturday at Montana (7-26, 1-2). The Grizzlies opened Big Sky Conference play last weekend by dropping two of three games on the road at Portland State.
• Montana is 4-0 at home, but each of those wins came against non-Div. I competition.
• Sacramento State is coming off an impressive 4-0 win over a Nevada team that entered the game with a 24-6 record. The Hornets played well in all three phases of the game.
• Sacramento State opened Big Sky play last week by taking two of three games at home vs. Northern Colorado.
• The Hornets have played just six true road games on an opponent's home field, and are 3-3 in those contests. The most recent road games were a doubleheader split at Pacific on March 25.
• Friday's doubleheader will begin at 1:30 p.m. PT, and Saturday's single game at noon PT.
• The Hornets remain the only team in the six-member Big Sky that currently has an overall record above the .500 mark. Northern Colorado is closest at 13-16.
• Sacramento State is 97-58 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. Perez is the second winningest coach in Big Sky history, behind Weber State's Mary Kay Amicone.
• The Hornets were co-favorites (along with Weber State) to win the Big Sky in the preseason coaches poll. Montana was selected to finish fourth.
• Sacramento State is 22-6 all-time against Montana. That's the most losses for the Griz against any opponent in Montana's history. The Hornets are 7-2 when playing Montana in Missoula.
• The Hornets won all four meetings between the teams last season, including three in Sacramento, and one in Ogden at the Big Sky Tourney. The Hornets outscored the Griz, 24-6.
• Sacramento State leads the Big Sky in batting average (.291), on-base percentage (.369) and ERA (3.03). All three of those marks rank among the top 100 teams in the country.
• A Sacramento State pitcher has earned Big Sky Pitcher of the Week honors six straight weeks. Senior right-hander Marissa Bertuccio has earned the award in five of those weeks, and her 15 career Big Sky Pitcher of the Week awards is an ongoing conference record.
• Bertuccio, the defending Big Sky Pitcher of the Year, is currently 10-5 with a 1.87 ERA, .247 opponents batting average, and 5-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio (70 strikeouts, 15 walks). She has won 10 of her last 12 decisions.
• Left fielder Alexis Parish is the seventh toughest player in the country to strike out. She has struck out just twice in 77 at-bats, or once every 38.5 at-bats. She is also hitting .438 (14-for-32) with runners in scoring position.
• Right fielder Carley Morfey has hit safely in 15 of the last 17 games, lifting her batting average over that span from .237 all the way up to its current mark of .326.
• Left-hander Caroline Evans had her career-high streak of 24 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run snapped in last Friday's 3-0 loss to Northern Colorado. Her season ERA of 1.81 is actually better than ace Marissa Bertuccio's mark of 1.87.
• Leandra Coronado has an eight-game hitting streak (.526, 10-for-19), which coincides with eight straight starts at shortstop. Those are her first eight starts of the season. The Hornets' longest hitting streaks of the season were nine games, shared by Gwen Ludwig and Carely Morfey.
• Savannah Wahl was brilliant in Tuesday's win over Nevada, throwing her first seven-inning shutout (five hitter) in a Div. I uniform. She is a transfer from Butte JC.
• Gwen Ludwig's .373 batting average is the second best mark in the Big Sky. She is batting .529 (9-for-17) over the last five games.
• Lewa Day (41) is three homers shy of the Hornet career record of 44, set by Suzy Brookshire.