SACRAMENTO — After Mother Nature pushed their scheduled game back a day, the Sacramento State baseball team will finally go head-to-head on the diamond on Wednesday (Feb. 21) at 4 p.m. at John Smith Field in the first of two scheduled contests between the Hornets and Bulldogs this season.

PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Fresno State (3-0) at Sacramento State (1-2)
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024
TIME: 4 p.m. PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field 
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
BUY TICKETS: HornetSports.com

ON THE MOUND…
Fresno State: TBA
Sacramento State: TBA

FRESNO? FRES-YES!
When Sacramento State takes on UC Santa Barbara this weekend, fans of the Hornets will not have to travel as far to watch their team take on the Gauchos. Recent rains and weather have impacted the installation of the grass turf at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, forcing a change in venue for this weekend's series to Chukchansi Park in Fresno, Calif. — home of the Colorado Rockies' Single-A affiliate, the Fresno Grizzlies. Dates and times for the three games have not changed and tickets can be purchased at the stadium's box office ($14 for adults, $10 for kids ages 10 and under).

The venue adds to the list of professional ballparks that the Hornets have had the opportunity to compete in. Sacramento State has played a number of games locally at the home of the Sacramento River Cats, Sutter Health Park, as well as contests at San Jose State's Excite Park (home of the Single-A San Jose Giants), Nevada's Greater Nevada Field (home of the Triple-A Reno Aces), Utah Valley's UCCU Ballpark (former home of the Orem Owlz), and Utah's Smith's Ballpark (home of the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees) among others.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS…
• Fresno State enters the week with a 3-0 record after sweeping a three-game home series against Milwaukee by the scores of 7-3, 9-3, and 2-0
• 10 of the Bulldogs' 20 hits against the Panthers went for extra bases, including a pair of home runs for grad outfielder Grady Morgan
• Fresno State hit just .220 in the series, but the Bulldogs' pitching staff was stingy, posting a 1.33 ERA and striking out 33 Milwaukee batters against only four walks over the weekend. 
• The bullpen limited the Panthers to just four hits and struck out a combined 11
• Morgan and senior utility Tommy Hopfe each hit .400 (4-for-10) on the weekend, combining for five runs scored, four extra-base hits, and three RBI

SERIES NOTES…
• One of the longest running series in the history of the program, Sacramento State and Fresno State first met during the 1950 season
• Wednesday marks the 178th meeting between the two California rivals with the Bulldogs leading the series by a 137-39-1 count overall and a 59-22 count in the Hornets' Division I era
• The two teams have split a pair of midweek games in each of the last two seasons after not meeting on the diamond for four years
• Wednesday marks the first game in Sacramento since April 12, 2022, as the last three games have all played in Fresno after weather forced a change in venue last year
• Each of the last six games has seen at least one of the teams score at least nine runs
• Sacramento State won the first meeting in 2023 by a 9-0 score in Fresno on March 15, before the Bulldogs answered with a 9-6 win in Fresno on May 2
• The Hornets' win last season was the team's first shutout of Fresno State since a 4-0 win in 2008
• 21 of Sacramento State's 39 wins in the series have come at home, but the Bulldogs have won three of the last four at John Smith Field save for a 5-4 win in 11 innings by the Hornets in 2016
• Sacramento State and Fresno State were conference rivals in the Western Athletic Conference from 1993-96 (8-16 overall) and, again, from 2006-12 (6-28 overall)

CONFERENCE CALL…
• Sacramento State is a combined 190-329-4 (.367) against the current Mountain West Conference baseball-playing lineup
• Aside from the 177 meetings with Fresno State, the Hornets have played Nevada 180 times and San Jose State 120 times
• Sacramento State was 4-1 against Mountain West opponents last year with wins over Nevada (twice), Fresno State, and San Jose State
• The Hornets are 7-3 in their last 10 games against Mountain West opponents

LAST TIME OUT…
• Sacramento State opened the 2024 season with a three-game series against Loyola Marymount — the first meeting between the two schools since 2008
• With rain threatening the series, the two teams met in a doubleheader on Friday, with the Lions taking both ends by the score of 4-0 and 12-10 in 11 innings
• The Hornets took the finale with a wild 9-8 victory, scoring three runs in the ninth and winning on a walk-off wild pitch

HORNET SHORT HOPS…
• Wednesday's game against Fresno State will be the first midweek game of the year for Sacramento State
• The Hornets were 10-3 in midweek contests in 2023 and have won their last two following victories over UC Davis (7-5) on May 9 and Pacific (18-15) on May 16
• Newcomer Matt Masciangelo set a program Division I era single-game record after being hit by a pitch four times in the second half of last week's doubleheader against Loyola Marymount
• Masciangelo was hit by a pitch seven times in his first eight plate appearances in the doubleheader, including driving home a run on one of them, to gain national attention… the compilation video has garnered close to 10 million views via various outlets on X (formerly Twitter)
• He was also hit in his first plate appearance in the series finale on Feb. 18, giving him eight on the year — which leads the nation by three over William & Mary's Jerry Barnes III, App State's Drew Holderbach, and Mount St. Mary's JT Landwehr
• Masciangelo's on-base percentage of .692 is No. 40 in the NCAA
• As a team, the Hornets' 12 HBP's have them ranked No. 5 in the nation, just three back of national leader LSU (15)
• Senior Gunner Gouldsmith extended his hitting streak to six straight games dating back to last year, collecting hits in all three games last weekend against LMU
• Gouldsmith added a double, a pair of runs scored, and an RBI
• Cesar Valero, who finished with three hits against LMU, reached base safely in all three contests against the Lions, extending his streak to 17 consecutive contests dating back to his final 14 games of 2023
• Sophomore JP Smith tied his career high with three hits in the series finale against LMU — logging his eight career three-hit game in the process
• Smith also set a career high with three runs scored in that contest
• Juniors Jose Ruiz and Tyler White each collected their first hits as Hornets in the weekend series with LMU
• Ruiz had an RBI single in the eighth inning of the finale that tied the game at 6-6 at the time, while White had two hits — including three doubles combined — in each of the final two games of the series and scored the winning run in the finale on a wild pitch
• A number of pitchers also made their debuts in the green and gold, including junior right-hander Elijah Rogalski, who earned the start in game two of the series
• Junior RHP Brady Chavez, junior RHP Andrew Monson, freshman RHP Andrew Overland, junior RHP Ian Winterhalder, freshman RHP Kade Brown, and freshman RHP Bryce Stockton also made their debuts in relief
• Although he picked up the loss, junior RHP Tyler Stewart struck out a career high-tying seven hitters in the season opener against LMU, matching his total in appearances against North Dakota State (2/19) and Pacific (4/10) last year
• The Hornets and Lions battled for 4:11 in game two of the series, falling just four minutes shy of the top 10 longest games in terms of time since the 1996 campaign
• The 11-inning game was the longest in terms of innings since Sacramento State and UC Davis went 11 innings in Davis on April 11 of last season
• With the win in the finale, Head Coach Reggie Christiansen moved to within three wins of his 500th career Division I head coaching victory