SACRAMENTO — Sacramento State senior outfielder Cesar Valero has been selected as one of 12 players named to the Western Athletic Conference preseason all-conference team on Tuesday as the Hornets prepare to open the 2024 season next week.

Valero was a preseason all-conference pick for the first time in his career and becomes the 23rd Sacramento State player to be selected since the program rejoined the WAC in 2006.

The native of Venezuela enters his third season with the Hornets in 2024 after hitting .281 with 36 runs scored, 52 hits, 12 doubles, 10 home runs, and 49 RBI as a junior last season. Over his last 13 games, Valero hit .411 for Sacramento State, ending the year on a seven-game hitting streak and reaching base safely in each of his final 14 contests.

He finished the year with 11 multi-hit games — including a pair of four-hit contests against UTRGV and Pacific — and 13 games with multiple RBI, the latter finishing tied for second on the year.

Over 93 games in the green and gold, Valero is hitting .288 with 23 career home runs and 87 RBI, ranking just outside the all-time top 10 in the latter two categories.

Entering his 14th season at the helm of the program, Head Coach Reggie Christiansen returns 14 letter winners and adds 19 newcomers — including 12 transfers — to the roster for the 2024 campaign. The Hornets are coming off a 2023 campaign where they finished 30-24 overall and 14-16 in WAC play, winning at least 30 contests for the 11th consecutive season — the only Division I program in the state of California to accomplish that feat.

Sacramento State officially opens the season on Feb. 16, starting a three-game series against Loyola Marymount at John Smith Field in the first meetings between the two programs since 2008. From there, the Hornets will face a schedule that features three NCAA Tournament teams from a season ago (Stanford, Oregon, and Santa Clara) and seven schools that finished in the top 100 of last year's NCAA RPI.

2024 WAC PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Co-Players of the Year: Daniel Dickinson, So., INF, Utah Valley & Mitchel Simon, Sr., INF, California Baptist
Pitcher of the Year: Daniel Avitia, Jr., RHP, Grand Canyon

2024 Preseason All-WAC Team
C – Michael Carpentier, Sr., California Baptist
1B – Zach Yorke, So., Grand Canyon
2B – Daniel Dickinson, So., Utah Valley
3B – Mitchel Simon, Sr., California Baptist
SS – Matthew Schwarz, Sr., Utah Valley
OF – Miller Laudusau, Sr., Abilene Christian
OF – Cade Verdusco, Sr., Grand Canyon
OF – Garrison Berkley, R-Jr., UT Arlington
DH – Cesar Valero, Sr., Sacramento State
SP – Daniel Avitia, Jr., RHP, Grand Canyon
SP – Angelo Cabral, Sr., RHP, UTRGV
RP – Zach Poe, Sr., RHP, Tarleton State