SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento State baseball team packs its bags for a return to Western Athletic Conference play this weekend, heading to St. George, Utah, for a three-game series against Utah Tech on March 15-17 at Bruce Hurst Field. This weekend marks only the second time that the Hornets will play on the road this season, but the first time that they will have to pack a suitcase after playing their only other road contest an 80-mile bus trip away in Berkeley, Calif., against Cal on Feb. 27.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Sacramento State (7-9, 2-1 WAC) at Utah Tech (3-14, 1-2 WAC)
WHEN: Fri.-Sun., March 15-17, 2024
TIME: 5:05 p.m. / 1:05 p.m. / 11:05 a.m. (All Times Pacific)
WHERE: Orem, Utah
STADIUM: Bruce Hurst Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1 - WAC International | Live Stats
Game 2 - WAC International | Live Stats
Game 3 - WAC International | Live Stats
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Utah Tech | Western Athletic Conference

PROBABLE STARTERS:
FRIDAY: RHP Tyler Stewart (1-1, 4.20 ERA) vs. RHP Dylan Gardner (0-4, 8.68 ERA)
SATURDAY: RHP Evan Gibbons (0-1, 4.80 ERA) vs. LHP Carston Herman (0-3, 5.49 ERA)
SUNDAY: RHP Andrew Overland (0-1, 2.79 ERA) vs. RHP Ky Decker (0-2, 5.40 ERA)

CHRISTIANSEN CLOSING IN ON ANOTHER
• 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 four 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

ABOUT THE TRAILBLAZERS
• Utah Tech enters the week with a 3-14 overall record and a 1-2 mark in WAC play
• The Trailblazers are coming off a series loss to UT Arlington over the weekend, winning the finale, 6-5, to snap a three-game skid
• Utah Tech also owns wins at Oklahoma State on March 5 and against Washington State on Feb. 17
• The Trailblazers are 1-7 at home this season having lost their last five
• Junior outfielder Ethan Royal leads the offense, batting .310 on the year with six runs scored, three doubles, and five walks
• Three other players are hitting better than .280 as Utah Tech is batting .232 as a team, but has been outscored 146-60 on the year
• As a staff, the Trailblazers sport a 7.73 ERA with 122 strikeouts in 144.1 innings while opponents are batting .319
• Junior RHP Dylan Gardner (0-4, 8.68 ERA), junior LHP Carston Herman (0-3, 5.49 ERA), and junior RHP Ky Decker (0-2, 5.40 ERA) has comprised the Utah Tech rotation in each of their last two weekend series

SERIES NOTES
• Sacramento State leads the series with Utah Tech by a 9-4 count
• The Hornets are coming off a sweep of the Trailblazers to close out the 2023 regular season
• This weekend marks only the second series between the two played in St. George with Sacramento State taking 2-of-3 from the Utah Tech in 2022
• The Trailblazers' last win in the series was in the finale of that 2022 set, while the Hornets have won three of the four series between the two
• Utah Tech's only series win was in the first meeting between the two in 2022 in Sacramento

WE HAVE COME TO PRAISE CESAR
• Senior Cesar Valero has collected hits in four of his last five games, including slugging three of his four home runs on the year in that stretch
• His three-run home run against Fresno State on Tuesday marked the 27th of his career, breaking a tie with Dawsen Bacho (2017-22) and moving him into a tie for seventh on the all-time list alongside Vinny Esposito (2015-18) and Tim Wheeler (2007-09)
• Valero now stands just eight shy of the career record of 35 shared by Harvey Hargrove (1995-97) and Martin Vincelli-Simard (2019-23)
• The three-run shot against the Bulldogs also tied a season high with three RBI
• During that stretch, Valero is batting .300 (6-for-20) with three runs scored and eight RBI while raising his average 36 points in the process

WE DIG THE LONG BALL
• Thanks to Valero's home run on Tuesday against Fresno State, the Hornets have now hit a home run in each of their last six games -- the longest such stretch since they hit one in their final seven games of 2023
• Sacramento State had four streaks of six games or longer with a home run last season
• The Hornets have hit a home run in 10 of their 16 games this year, including multiple home runs three times and four home runs in a game twice

SETTING THE PACE
• Coming off a season in which they hit a school-record 92 home runs, the Hornets are slightly ahead of the pace that led to that record in 2023
• Last year, Sacramento State had 14 long balls through the first 16 games led by five players who hit at least two
• Sacramento State's 17 home runs through the first 16 games this year are the most since the Hornets slugged 19 through the first 16 games of the 2004 campaign en route to 52 as a team

NINE IS FINE
• Senior Gunner Gouldsmith extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games with his single against Fresno State on Tuesday night
• It is the longest streak by a Hornet since Martin Vincelli-Simard and Wehiwa Aloy ended 2023 with hits in each of their last 11 games of the regular season
• During his run, Gouldsmith is batting .297 (11-for-37) at the top of the lineup, scoring five runs, driving in three more, and drawing four of his five walks on the year
• Gouldsmith has at least one hit in every game but two this year after opening the season with hits in each of the first five contests

MASCIANGEL-OW!
• After being hit by a pitch twice over the weekend against Utah Valley, junior Matt Masciangelo added his 13th HBP on Tuesday against Fresno State
• As of March 12, Masciangelo's 13 HBPs leads the NCAA by one over Texas Tech's Cade McGee and San Francisco's Kody Watanabe
• The 13 HBPs rank just one shy of moving Masciangelo into the school's single-season top 10 (Derrick Chung, Brent Hottman, and Josh Powers are all tied for ninth with 14), while standing six short of the single-season record of 19 shared by Buddy Morales (2006), Carlos Morales (2000), and Dan Vetter (1995)
• He entered the week leading the WAC with a .536 on-base percentage
• Masciangelo had quite a debut in the green and gold after being hit by a pitch in eight of his first nine plate appearances during the Hornets' opening weekend
• Masciangelo was hit three times in the opener against LMU, four more times in game two, and was plunked in his first appearance in the finale
• His four HBP's in game two set a program Division I single-game record
• He finished that weekend with a .682 on-base percentage
• The performance gained national attention with the video of his first seven HBPs garnering close to 10 million views on social media

SMITH KEEPING IT SIMPLE
• Sophomore JP Smith has collected hits in five of his last six games, batting .364 (8-for-22) while scoring eight runs, driving in seven more, and slugging four of his nine home runs on the year
• Smith's ninth home run of the year in the finale against Utah Valley has him atop the WAC leaderboard entering the weekend, leading Grand Canyon's Beau Ankeney by a pair
• He also ranks No. 5 in the NCAA in home runs -- trailing Georgia's Charlie Condon by four -- and No. 6 in the nation with 0.56 home runs per game
• 10 of his 19 hits this year have gone for extra bases
• Smith entered 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)
• Coupled with his 14 home runs as a freshman (a total that matched the school single-season record for home runs by a freshman in the program's Division I history), Smith now has 23 home runs for his career, standing just three shy of the all-time top 10

BOJORQUEZ GOES RECORD HUNTING
• Senior Jorge Bojorquez made his way up a couple of school top-10 lists following last weekend's series against Utah Valley
• The Nogales, Ariz., native scored his 128th career run in the finale against the Wolverines, moving him into a tie for ninth alongside Andrew Ayers (2010-13) and David Flores (2005-08)
• His two walks in game two of the series also gave him 86 for his career, moving him into a tie for eighth alongside Steven Moretto (2018-22)

TYLER TERRIFIC
• Junior right-hander Tyler Stewart enters the weekend having limited opposing hitters to a .235 average (ninth in the WAC) over his 20.1 innings while also ranking tied for 10th in the league with 20 strikeouts along with his teammate Evan Gibbons
• Stewart has walked only four batters on the season (5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio) and didn't walk one in his first 14 innings of work to start the year
• Despite a 1-1 record through four starts, the Hornets are 3-1 in games that Stewart has started 

THE (BULL)PEN IS MIGHTIER
• Hornet relievers have come through out of the bullpen over Sacramento State's last four games (20.0 IP)
• 11 different relievers have combined for a 2.25 ERA and a .263 (20-for-76) average against, holding opponents to five earned runs and 20 hits in that stretch
• That group has also struck out 26 hitters against only one walk

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
• After a rough debut in the second game of a doubleheader against Loyola Marymount, freshman right-hander Kade Brown has been lights out in the bullpen for the Hornets
• Although his run of hitless shutout innings (10.0 IP) came to an end in the finale against Utah Valley, he capped off a busy week against the Wolverines with a win in the opener and got the final five outs to pick up his third save of the year in game three
• Opponents 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 enters the weekend ranked No. 19 in the nation with three saves and sharing the lead in the WAC along with Grand Canyon's Nathan Ward

"X" GONNA GIVE IT TO YA
• Sophomore right-hander Xavier Richards has been a big part of the bullpen's success as of late, allowing just one run on nine hits -- only two of those for extra bases -- over his last 9.2 innings (five appearances) while striking out 13 without a walk
• Richards has held hitters to a .243 (9-for-37) average in that span, striking out a season-high four against Minnesota on March 1 while throwing 2.2 shutout innings against Pacific on March 3
• In the process, Richards has lowered his ERA by 15 points down to 4.97 on the year 
• The sophomore has walked only one batter on the year, that coming against No. 22 UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 24

"MAX"-IMUM EFFORT
• 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

HANGING WITH MR. COOPER
• 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 over two innings of work to pick up his second win in his last three appearances
• He has allowed just two runs total on eight hits combined in that five-appearance (9.1 IP) stretch, striking out 11 while walking only four
• In that span, he has also limited opponents to a .235 (8-for-34) average
• Rons has struck out three in each of his last three appearances, including a three-inning start against UC Davis on March 5 -- his first of the year and the third of his Hornet career -- when he gave up just one hit