SACRAMENTO — Having already played 14 of its first 15 contests within the friendly confines of John Smith Field, the Sacramento State baseball team brings its home-heavy start to the season to a close on Tuesday night (March 12), hosting a midweek contest against long-time rival Fresno State for a second time this season. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Fresno State (11-4) at Sacramento State (7-8)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 12, 2024
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
BUY TICKETS: HornetSports.com

ON THE MOUND…
Sacramento State: RHP Bryce Stockton (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Fresno State: LHP Bryce Armstrong (0-0, 2.25 ERA)

CHRISTIANSEN CLOSING IN ON ANOTHER MILESTONE…
• With two wins over the weekend, Head Coach Reggie Christiansen improved to 187-139 (.574) in Western Athletic Conference games in his career, needing 13 more to reach the 200-win plateau in conference play
• Now in his 14th season at the helm of the Hornets, Christiansen's 187 WAC victories are the most among his conference head coaching brethren with Seattle's Donny Harrel standing second with 130 wins
• Earlier this year, Christiansen picked up his 500th career Division I coaching victory with a 7-5 victory over Minnesota on March 1
• In 2023, he earned his 500th overall win as a head coach at New Mexico State on April 30, and earned his 400th win as a Sacramento State head coach against Utah Tech on May 20 in the regular season finale
• Christiansen is five games shy of coaching in his 1,000th career game as a head coach, which would happen on March 19 against Nevada at home barring interference from Mother Nature between now and then

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS…
• Fresno State enters the week with an 11-4 overall record and a 2-1 mark in Mountain West Conference play
• The Bulldogs have won three straight, defeating UC Irvine (13-1) and Columbia twice (8-5 and 15-4)
• Tuesday marks the first road game for Fresno State since a Feb. 25 victory at Cal State Fullerton when they took 2-of-3 from the Titans
• The Bulldogs opened Mountain West play with a series win over San Diego State the very next weekend at home, winning the first and third games of the weekend
• Fresno State is a robust 9-2 at home, but just 2-2 on the road
• Junior infielder Eddie Saldivar leads a quintet of regulars batting better than .300 on the year, hitting .393 with a 1.083 OPS to go along with 20 runs scored, a pair of home runs and 13 RBI
• Grady Morgan (.333) leads the team in both home runs (4) and RBI (17)
• Six Bulldogs have driven in at least 10 runs on the year
• The team is hitting a collective .291 on the year and outscoring opponents 111-65
• The pitching staff sports a 3.45 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, striking out 143 batters against only 37 walks over 133 innings and holding opponents to a .241 average

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
• Tuesday marks the 179th meeting between the two California rivals with the Bulldogs leading the series by a 137-40-1 count overall and a 59-23 count in the Hornets' Division I era
• Sacramento State posted an 8-6 victory over Fresno State in the first meeting between the two schools earlier this year on Feb. 21 
• Sacramento State has won three of the last four meetings following this year's win
• It was the first meeting in Sacramento between the two twos since April 12, 2022
• It also marked the first time in the last seven head-to-head meetings that one team had NOT scored nine runs in the game
• 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
• 22 of Sacramento State's 40 wins in the series have come at home
• 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 191-329-4 (.368) against the current Mountain West Conference baseball-playing lineup
• Aside from the 178 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 8-2 in their last 10 games against Mountain West opponents
• Following Tuesday's game, Sacramento State has three games remaining against Mountain West opponents this year, taking on Nevada in a three-game midweek "series" on March 19 and May 7 at home, and on April 2 in Reno

HORNET SHORT HOPS…
• Sacramento State is coming off its first series win of the year, opening Western Athletic Conference play by taking 2-of-3 from Utah Valley over the weekend
• Tuesday marks the Hornets' fourth midweek game of the season, looking to snap a two-game skid following losses at California (3-1 on Feb. 27) and at home against UC Davis (10-5 on March 5)
• It also marks Sacramento State's 15th home game in its first 16 contests to start 2024
• The two wins over Utah Valley gave the Hornets their first WAC series win to start a season since 2021 when Sacramento State swept the Wolverines on the road
• The 10 runs scored against Utah Valley in the series finale on Sunday (March 10) marked the fourth time that the Hornets have scored double-digit runs, while the 16 hits were also a season high
• Sacramento State's 16 hits were the most since the Hornets finished with 17 in the second game of a series against Utah Tech on May 19 of last season
• These Hornets love the long ball as the team has slugged at least one home run in five straight games and nine times in 15 games overall
• Sacramento State has slugged four home runs in a game twice against Fresno State (Feb. 21) and UC Davis (March 5) — both midweek contests
• The Hornets' 16 home runs through the first 15 games are slightly ahead of last year's school-record pace (13) and the most since they slugged 17 home runs in the same span in 2021 to start the year
• Senior Gunner Gouldsmith enters Tuesday's game with a team-best eight-game hitting streak, collecting hits in every game but two this season after opening the year with hits in the first five contests
• Part of his recent run was a 3-for-4 day in the second game of the series against Utah Valley, his best day at the plate since going 3-for-6 at Stephen F. Austin on April 1, 2023
• After collecting hits in the final two games of the Utah Valley series — including a Hornet career-high two hits in the finale — junior Elie Kligman has now reached base safely in each of his last nine appearances, which is currently the longest active streak of any Sacramento State player
• Junior Jose Ruiz tied his career high with two hits in the series opener against Utah Valley and slugged his first career home run as a Hornet in game two of the series
• That made him the fifth different Hornet to hit a home run this season after teammate Jacob Cortez hit his first of the year in the series opener against the Wolverines
• Cortez also came up with his second career game-winning RBI in that game — in dramatic fashion — as his fielder's choice plated teammate Ryan Christiansen with the game-winning run on a play at the plate for a 4-3 win
• Junior Matt Masciangelo came up with Sacramento State's first four-hit game of the season, finishing 4-for-5 at the plate in the series finale against Utah Valley with four singles — raising his average 80 points to .306 in the process entering Tuesday's game
• He is the first Hornet to collect four hits in a game since Wehiwa Aloy did so against New Mexico State on April 28 of last season
• After collecting just one hit in his first eight appearances as a Hornet, Masciangelo now has three multi-hit games in his six contests
• He was also hit by a pitch twice last weekend, bringing his season total to 12 and enters the week tied for first in the NCAA with San Francisco's Kody Watanabe
• The 12 HBPs rank just two back of the all-time single-season top 10 in school history (Derrick Chung, Brent Hottman, and Josh Powers are all tied for ninth with 14), while standing seven short of the single-season record of 19 shared by Buddy Morales (2006), Carlos Morales (2000), and Dan Vetter (1995)
• Masciangelo's .536 on-base percentage is the best in the WAC entering the week
• Sophomore JP Smith has hits in five of his last seven games, including a pair of career high tying three-hit games — the 10th and 11th such performances of his career
• Smith's ninth home run of the season in the finale against Utah Valley has him atop the WAC leaderboard in the category and tied for No. 4 in the NCAA entering the week, three behind national leader Charlie Condon of Georgia
• Smith enters the week leading the WAC with a .793 slugging percentage while ranking in the top 10 in runs (t6th), RBI (4th), and total bases (t1st)
• Senior Cesar Valero finished with the game-tying hit with an RBI single in the series opener against Utah Valley and added his 10th career game-winning RBI in the series finale — the most of any active Hornet

• Freshman closer Kade Brown had a busy weekend against the Wolverines, earning the win in the Hornets' 4-3 victory in the series opener before coming in two days later to get the final five outs and pick up his third save of the year in the finale
• His run of hitless shutout appearances (10.0 IP) came to an end in the finale when he gave up a double and a run for the first time since the second game of the season-opening series against Loyola Marymount
• Opponents, however, are still struggling to hit the right-hander, who is holding opponents to an .079 average (3-for-38) in eight appearances (11.2 IP)
• Brown's three saves are tied for No. 15 in the NCAA entering the week
• Sophomore right-hander Xavier Richards has also been stellar in relief, allowing just one run on nine hits (only two for extra bases) over his last 9.2 IP, striking out 13 batters without a walk in that stretch
• That run has reduced his ERA down to 4.97 on the season — an improvement of 15 points from before the streak
• Richards has walked only one batter all year, that coming against No. 22 UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 24
• Speaking of stingy, left-hander Max Pettey has been just that as a specialist out of the bullpen, allowing just one run and five hits over 5.2 innings of work, striking out six — including a season-high three — in the second game of the series against Utah Valley
• Pettey enters the week sporting a team-low 1.59 ERA and a .250 average against
• Right-hander Cooper Rons gave up his first earned run in his last five appearances in the series finale with Utah Valley, but struck out three oer two innings of work to pick up his second win in his last three appearances
• Rons has struck out three in each of his last three appearances, including a three-inning start against UC Davis on March 5 when he gave up just one hit
• In his first start since Feb. 27 at California, freshman right-hander Andrew Overland struck out a career-high four in a Sunday start against Utah Valley, allowing just two hits in 3.2 innings of work
• Right-handers Tyler Stewart and Evan Gibbons are among the top 10 in the WAC in strikeouts with 20 apiece entering the week, combining to strikeout 40 hitters against only nine walks — better than a 4-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio