SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento State baseball team opens the 2024 season at home this weekend, welcoming Southern California rival Loyola Marymount to John Smith Field for a three-game series. Due to rain in the forecast for the area, the schedule has been altered to a doubleheader on Friday (Feb. 16) at 2 p.m. with game two to follow 30 minutes afterward, and a single-game finale on Sunday (Feb. 18) at 1 p.m. Saturday's game has been canceled.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Loyola Marymount (29-24, 21-6 WCC in 2023) at Sacramento State (30-26, 14-16 WAC in 2023)
WHEN: Friday, Feb. 16 (DH) & Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024
TIME: 2 p.m. / 30 minutes after & 1 p.m. (All Times Pacific)
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 2 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 3 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

PROBABLE STARTERS:
FRIDAY - GAME 1: RHP Tyler Stewart (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Owen Hackman (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
FRIDAY - GAME 2: RHP Elijah Rogalski (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Ryan Towers (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
SUNDAY: RHP Evan Gibbons (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Chaz McRoberts (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

HORNET QUICK HITS
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen enters his 16th year with the program and his 14th as head coach in 2024
• Christiansen earned both his 500th career win (April 30 at New Mexico State) and his 400th win as a Hornet (May 20 vs. Utah Tech) last season
• He is also closing in on another milestone, needing just four wins to reach 500 for his Division I coaching career. Christiansen enters the season with a 496-444 (.528) record at the Division I level which includes 96 wins at South Dakota State (2005-08) and 400 wins at the helm of Sacramento State
• Christiansen traded in his green and gold for the red, white, and blue, over the summer as the bench coach for the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team
• Sacramento State finished the 2023 season with a 30-26 overall record and a 14-16 mark in the WAC
• The 30-win season marked the 11th consecutive 30-win season for the Hornets dating back to 2012 -- the only Division I program in the state of California to do so
• Sacramento State has won 382 games in that span to rank fifth among California's Division I programs, trailing only Stanford (431), UCLA (430), UC Santa Barbara (409), and UC Irvine (383)
• The Hornets enter the 2024 campaign having won their last five straight after winning the series finale against California Baptist, defeating Pacific in a midweek contest, and sweeping conference rival Utah Tech to end 2023
• Sacramento State has also won its last five straight at John Smith Field dating back to last year
• There will be a lot of new faces in new places for Sacramento State in 2024 as the Hornets welcome back 14 letterwinners and a pair of redshirts while adding 19 newcomers -- including 12 transfers -- to the fold
• Of those 19 newcomers, 10 of those will be featured on the mound
• Of the 12 transfers, three hail from the Division I ranks (UC Santa Barbara, CSU Bakersfield, and Long Beach State) while nine come from junior college programs
• Sacramento State is coming off a 2023 season where it slugged a school-record 92 home runs (No. 36 in the NCAA), but only 34 of those long balls return led by sophomore JP Smith, who tied the school Division I freshman record with 14
• The Hornet coaching staff features three new additions -- all former standouts in the green and gold: Director of Operations Jack Zalasky, Director of Video & Pitching Analysis Wesley Harper, and Player Development Coordinator David Del Grande

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• As of Thursday (Feb. 15), all three games of this weekend's opening series are scheduled to be streamed live via the ESPN+ platform. Links for future games will be posted on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com once they become available.

LET'S PLAY TWO!
• Friday marks the first time since the 2017 season that the Hornets will play an opening day doubleheader, last sweeping Washington State at home by the scores of 10-2 and 6-4 on Feb. 18 of that year
• Sacramento State played four doubleheaders last season, splitting three of those against North Dakota State (Feb. 19), Grand Canyon (March 18), and at Stephen F. Austin (April 1), while sweeping both ends against the University of St. Thomas (Feb. 25)
• In all three of the splits, the Hornets won the opening game against the Bison (3-2), 'Lopes (13-8), and Lumberjacks (17-3)
• According to available records, Sacramento State also opened the season with a doubleheader on 18 other occasions against Fresno State (1957, 1964, 1969), Pacific (1959, 1960, 1961), San Francisco (1962, 1971), Nevada (1966, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976), Stanislaus State (1981), Hawai'i Pacific (1985), Chico State (1987), Oregon Tech (2003), and UC Davis (2011).

ABOUT THE LIONS
• Loyola Marymount is coming off a 2023 season that saw the Lions finish 29-24 overall and 21-6 in West Coast Conference play
• As a result, the Lions clinched the program's first outright WCC regular season title in 25 years, but finished 0-2 in the conference tournament with losses to Saint Mary's and Portland
• Sophomore catcher Khadim Diaw was the WCC Freshman of the Year in 2023, batting .314 with 47 runs scored, 11 doubles, eight home runs and 33 RBI
• The Lions return three of their top four hitters from last season's squad that hit .266 to rank third in the WCC
• LMU lost two-thirds of its starting rotation from last season to graduation, returning only senior right-hander Owen Hackman, who was 4-3 with a 5.71 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP, but struck out 40 against only 14 walks in 64.2 innings
• Probable starters on the mound for the weekend are scheduled to be Hackman for game one, junior left-hander Ryan Towers (0-0, 16.20 ERA) in game two, and sophomore right-hander Chaz McRoberts (1-3, 5.21 ERA) for the finale

SERIES NOTES
• Loyola Marymount leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 6-2 count, but the two programs haven't met since 2008
• The Hornets and Lions split a pair of games to open that season with Sacramento State winning the opener, 12-7, before LMU answered with a 7-3 win in game two in Sacramento
• This weekend marks only the second time that the two programs have met at John Smith Field with the first six games played in Southern California in 1986 (Lions win the series, 2-1) and 2007 (LMU sweeps the series, 3-0). 

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State has faced all eight members of the current WCC baseball alignment, posting a 277-297-4 (.483) all-time mark according to available records
• The Hornets were 2-0 against the WCC in 2023, sweeping a pair of midweek games from Pacific: 11-8 in 10 innings on April 10 in Stockton and 18-15 on May 16 at home
• Sacramento State hasn't faced a WCC team in a series since taking three-of-four from San Francisco on May 14-16, 2021, with the first and final games played in the Bay Area around a pair of games at home
• The Hornets' 98 wins against Pacific (98-80-1) are the most against any WCC opponent, followed by 64 wins against both Saint Mary's (64-60-2) and San Francisco (64-71-1)
• Sacramento State will face three other WCC schools this season: Pacific (March 1 at home and March 20 in Stockton), San Francisco (April 1 at home), and Santa Clara (4/20) in a neutral site contest in Southern California

LID-LIFTERS
• According to available records dating back to 1949, Sacramento State is a combined 33-41 on opening day
• The Hornets have won each of their last four opening day contests against UC Santa Barbara (6-1) in 2020, No. 15 Arizona State (4-2) in 2021, Northern Illinois (11-7) in 2022, and North Dakota State (5-3) in 2023
• Under Head Coach Reggie Christiansen, the Hornets are a combined 7-6 on opening day dating back to 2011
• Sacramento State has won its last two season-opening series against Northern Illinois (a four-game sweep) and North Dakota State (three out of four)
• The Hornets open at home for the second straight year and the seventh time in the last eight seasons

NEW LOOK WAC
• The Western Athletic Conference baseball lineup will look a little different in 2023 with the departures of Sam Houston State -- last year's regular season runner-up -- and New Mexico State
• The Bearkats and Aggies both now compete in Conference USA

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
• Sacramento State was picked to finish seventh in the WAC standings according to a vote of the league's head coaches released on Feb. 6
• The Hornets picked up 54 points to stand 15 points ahead of SeattleU and just five points back of UTRGV in sixth
• Grand Canyon received nine of the 11 first-place votes and 99 points overall to finish first, while Utah Valley (75 points) and California Baptist (74 points) also earned first-place nods
• Abilene Christian (70) and UT Arlington (68) rounded out the top five

VALERO PICKS UP PRESEASON ALL-WAC HONORS
• Senior Cesar Valero was named to the preseason All-Western Athletic Conference team according to a vote of the league's head coaches as a designated hitter
• Valero is the 23rd Hornet to earn preseason all-conference honors since Sacramento State rejoined the WAC in 2006
• In 2023, Valero slashed .281 / .384 / .519 with 12 doubles, 10 home runs and 49 RBI, ending the year on a seven-game hitting streak
• It marks the second straight season that the Hornets have had a representative on the preseason all-league team after closer Jack Zalasky was named to the squad prior to the 2023 season
• Sacramento State has had at least one player named to the preseason All-WAC team in 13 of their 19 seasons since rejoining the conference (preseason teams from 2013 and 2014 are unavailable at this time)
• The Hornets have had multiple preseason All-WAC selections six times (2008, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020) and a program-best five preseason All-WAC selections prior to the 2015 campaign: Nathan Lukes, Brennan Leitao, Sam Long, Sutter McLoughlin, and Scotty Burcham

THE SCHEDULE
• Sacramento State's 56-game 2024 schedule features three teams that reached last year's NCAA Tournament and seven schools that finished in the top 100 of last year's final NCAA RPI rankings
• Stanford advanced to the College World Series, Oregon hosted a Super Regional against Oral Roberts, and Santa Clara reached the NCAA Regional at Fayetteville, Ark.
• Among this year's opponents, the Cardinal ranked No. 16 in the final RPI, followed by Oregon (No. 28), USC (No. 53), UC Santa Barbara (No. 55), Grand Canyon (No. 72), Santa Clara (No. 77), and California (No. 83)
• All told, the Hornets will face opponents from five different conferences, including four each from the Pac-12 and West Coast Conference, two from the Mountain West Conference, two from the Big West, and another from the Big Ten

FEELS LIKE HOME
• 28 of the Hornets' 56 games will be played within the friendly confines of John Smith Field, including 12 of the team's first 16 scheduled contests
• Sacramento State was 20-11 at home in 2023 -- the 12th consecutive season that the Hornets have posted a winning record at home since 2012
• The 20 wins are tied for the third-most in that span trailing only the 2014 (25-8) and 2019 (22-7) campaigns and tied with the 2015 (20-11) squad
• Since Head Coach Reggie Christiansen took over in 2011, the Hornets are a combined 223-141 (.613) at home

6+4+3=2
• Sacramento State's defense turned 50 double plays in 2023, ranking No. 21 in the NCAA and No. 22 with 0.89 double plays per game
• The 50 double plays were the most since the 2016 team finished with 51

LOCAL FLAVOR
• This year's Hornet roster will have a definite local flair, featuring 10 student-athletes from Sacramento and the surrounding area
• JP Smith (Granite Bay HS), Brett Ott (Granite Bay HS), Ryan Christiansen (Rio Americano HS), Elijah Rogalski (Rio Americano HS), Jaxon Byrd (Alpha Charter HS) all hail from Sacramento
• Sean Carey (Folsom HS) is from Folsom
• Evan Gibbons (Franklin HS), Noah Lucchesi (Laguna Creek HS), and Kade Brown (Elk Grove HS) hail from Elk Grove
• Max Pettey (Whitney HS) is from Rocklin

STATE OF THE HORNETS
• Sacramento State's 2024 roster will represent eight different states entering the season: California (22 players), Nevada (5), Arizona (2), Idaho (1), Oregon (1), Texas (1), Utah (1), and Washington (1)
• The eight states represented are the most in the program's Division I history (since 1990), surpassing the previous mark of seven states in 2017
• Freshman Cameron Sewell from Medford, Ore., is the first player to hail from Oregon since Ty Fox (Central Point, Ore.) in 2018
• Freshman Dylan Torres from El Paso, Texas, is the first player to hail from Texas since Ricky Martinez (Pflugerville, Texas) in 2017
• Junior Ian Winterhalder is the first player to hail from Utah in the program's Division I history
• Bryce Stockton, originally from the Sacramento area before moving to Idaho during his freshman year of high school, is the first player from Idaho since Jason Haselhahn (Moscow, Idaho) in 1996
• All told, Sacramento State rosters have featured student-athletes from 17 different states in the program's Division I history: California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Hawai'i, Georgia, Alaska, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kansas, and Missouri
• Only once in the program's Division I history has the Hornet roster featured all Californians, that coming during the 2009 campaign