SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento State baseball team resumes Western Athletic Conference play with another three-game home series this weekend, welcoming Abilene Christian to John Smith Field beginning Friday (March 22) and running through Sunday (March 24).

The series wraps up a run that will see the Hornets play five games in six days and 19 of their first 24 at home to start 2024. First pitch times are scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday (an hour earlier than the originally announced 2 p.m. start), 1 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. on Sunday.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Abilene Christian (13-9, 4-2 WAC) at Sacramento State (9-12, 3-3 WAC)
WHEN: Fri.-Sun., March 22-24, 2024
TIME: 1 p.m. / 1 p.m. / 11 a.m. (All Times Pacific)
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1 - ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
Game 2 - Live Stats | Tickets (No live stream available)
Game 3 - ESPN+ | Live Stats | Tickets
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Abilene Christian | Western Athletic Conference

PROBABLE STARTERS:
FRIDAY: RHP Tyler Stewart (1-1, 4.68 ERA) vs. RHP Austin Glaze (2-1, 5.32 ERA)
SATURDAY: RHP Evan Gibbons (0-2, 6.00 ERA) vs. RHP Iain Campa (3-1, 3.04 ERA)
SUNDAY: RHP Andrew Overland (0-1, 2.93 ERA) vs. LHP Brett Lanman (3-1, 2.59 ERA)

CHRISTIANSEN REACHES 1,000
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen coached in his 1,000th career game as a head coach on Tuesday against Nevada, posting a wild 21-9 victory
• Christiansen is 188-140 (.573) in WAC games in his career, needing 12 more to reach the 200-win plateau
• Now in his 14th season at the helm of the Hornets, Christiansen's 188 WAC victories are the most among his conference head coaching brethren with Seattle's Donny Harrel standing second with 132 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

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
• Abilene Christian enters the week with a 13-9 overall record and a 4-2 mark in WAC play
• The Wildcats are just 5-5 away from home this season compared to 8-3 on their home diamond
• ACU has won both of their WAC series thus far, taking 2-of-3 from Tarleton and UT Arlington the last two weekends
• In their last outing, the Wildcats fell, 9-4, at Texas Tech in a midweek contest on Tuesday
• Utility player Gino D'Alessio is one of four regulars batting better than .300, hitting .395 with a team-high 32 hits to go along with 18 runs, six home runs, and 27 RBI
• As a team, the Wildcats are hitting .276 and outscoring their opponents, 139-119, ranking third in the WAC in average, second in on-base percentage (.392), and tied for first in runs scored
• The weekend rotation for ACU has been made up of right-hander Austin Glaze (2-1, 5.32 ERA), right-hander Iain Campa (3-1, 3.04 ERA), and left-hander Brett Lanman (3-1, 2.59 ERA)
• As a staff, the Wildcats have struck out a league-high 219 batters against 97 walks, holding opponents to a .248 average -- which ranks second in the WAC

SERIES NOTES
• This weekend marks only the second-ever series between Sacramento State and Abilene Christian after the Wildcats left the Southland Conference in 2022
• ACU took two of the three games in the inaugural series with the Hornets last year in Abilene, Texas, winning games two (10-0 in seven innings) and three (20-5 in seven innings) after Sacramento State won the opener by an 8-4 score

14-KARAT GOULD
• Senior Gunner Gouldsmith extended his team-best hitting streak to 14 games with his single at Pacific
• It is the longest hitting streak by a Hornet since teammate JP Smith hit safely in 16 consecutive games from April 15 to May 12 last year -- which ranked tied for the ninth-longest recorded streak in school history
• During his run, Gouldsmith is batting .328 (20-for-61) at the top of the lineup, scoring 10 runs, driving in 10 more, and drawing five of his six 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
• The streak included a career high-tying four hits and career high's in runs (3) and RBI (4) against Nevada

TOUCHDOWN, HORNETS!
• The 21 runs scored by the Hornets in their win over Nevada on Tuesday were the most since they outscored Houston Christian (formerly Houston Baptist), 21-4, on March 4, 2022
• On the way to that three touchdown performance, Sacramento State put up a 10-spot in the second innings to erase an early 5-0 deficit against the Wolf Pack -- the first double-digit inning since a 10-run fourth inning in that 2022 game against the Huskies
• The 17 hits against Nevada were also a season high and the most since the Hornets had 18 against Pacific on May 16 of last season

SPREADING THE WEALTH
• In that win over Nevada, four Hornets -- Cameron Sewell (3-for-4), Gouldsmith (4-for-5), Elie Kligman (3-for-5), and Matt Masciangelo (3-for-5) -- finished with at least three hits, marking the first time since last year's win over Pacific on May 16 that a Sacramento State lineup had accomplished that feat
• Six different players combined to drive in 20 of the 21 runs scored against the Wolf Pack, including four players with four RBI: Gouldsmith, Kligman, Masciangelo, and Jose Ruiz
• It is believed to be the first time in the program's Division I history (since 1990) that the Hornets have had four players with four RBI in the same game

ISN'T IT GRAND?
• Sacramento State's 10-run outburst in the second inning against Nevada was capped by a grand slam by Jose Ruiz -- the junior's second home run as a Hornet and the first grand slam by a Hornet since JP Smith slugged one at Stanford on April 18, 2023
• The grand slam is just a small part of a five-game hitting streak for Ruiz, who is batting .368 (7-for-19) with seven runs scored and a pair of doubles to go with that grand slam and four RBI

EXTRA, EXTRA!
• Thanks to Cesar Valero's double at Pacific on Wednesday, the Hornets have collected an extra base hit in each of their last 14 games and have been held to without one only once all year (against UCSB on Feb. 25)
• Sacramento State's 61 combined extra-base hits, ranking fourth in the WAC behind Utah Valley (78), California Baptist (73), and Grand Canyon (65)

WE DIG THE LONG BALL
• With a pair of long balls in the win over Nevada on Tuesday, the Hornets extended their home run streak to 10 consecutive games before having that run snapped at Pacific on Wednesday night
• The game against the Tigers marked the first time that Sacramento State was held homerless since March 2 against Minnesota before starting the streak the next day against Pacific
• The Hornets have hit a home run in all but seven games and have hit multiple home runs five times
• Of Sacramento State's 23 home runs, 13 of those have been of the solo variety with eight more coming with a single runner on base

MASCIANGEL-OW!
• Hit once in last weekend's opener against Utah Tech and another on Wednesday at Pacific, junior Matt Masciangelo has been plunked by a pitch a total of 15 times this season
• His total is tied for the NCAA lead entering the weekend with Texas Tech's Cade McGee
• The 15 HBPs moved him into a tie for eighth on the school's single-season list with Jim Graf (1969) and stands four shy of the record shared by Buddy Morales (2006), Carlos Morales (2000) and Dan Vetter (1995)
• Aside from leading the WAC in the category (two players are tied with eight in second place), Masciangelo enters the weekend leading the WAC with a .506 on-base percentage
• He has reached base safely in all 19 of his starts, hitting safely eight times while drawing a walk or hit by pitch in the remaining 11 games
• 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
• He was hit three times in the opener against LMU, four more times in game two, and was plunked in his first appearance in the series finale
• His four HBP's in game two set a program Division I single-game record
• He posted a .682 on-base percentage that weekend
• The performance gained national attention with the video of his first seven HBPs garnering close to 10 million views on social media

WE HAVE COME TO PRAISE CESAR
• Senior Cesar Valero has collected hits in eight of his last 10 games, including slugging three of his four home runs on the year in that stretch
• His three-run home run against Fresno State on March 12 marked the 27th of his career, 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)

PATIENCE, GRASSHOPPER
• The Hornet hitters were very patient at the plate against Nevada on Tuesday, drawing 10 walks from the Wolf Pack pitchers in the 21-9 win
• The 10 free passes were the most in a game since Sacramento State drew 11 walks against Menlo College on April 3, 2023

OH SO CLOSE
• One play or one hit goes the Hornets' way as of late and their record would look drastically different as each of the team's last four losses have been by two runs or fewer -- three of those by a single run
• Sacramento State has had five games decided by one run, while nine have been by two runs or fewer

BOJORQUEZ GOES RECORD HUNTING
• Senior Jorge Bojorquez scored his 130th career run in game two at Utah Tech last weekend, moving him into a tie for eighth alongside Scotty Burcham (2012-15)
• His walk on Wednesday at Pacific also gave him 88 for his career, moving him into seventh place just one shy of Dawsen Bacho (2017-22) and three back of Derrick Chung (2008-12) for fifth place.
• He enters the weekend just 13 hits shy of 200 for his career and needs 24 more hits this year to move into the all-time top 10

SMITH SMASHING
• Sophomore JP Smith slugged a pair of home runs in the series opener at Utah Tech last weekend, collecting his 10th and 11th round trippers of the year and moving him to within three of his total from all of last year
• Aside from leading the WAC, Smith's 11 home runs have him ranked tied for eighth in the NCAA, trailing national leader Grant Knipp of Campbell, who has 15
• Smith one of 21 players in the nation with double-digit home runs and one of only eight underclassmen
• 12 of his 23 hits this year have gone for extra bases
• Smith enters the weekend leading the WAC with a .718 slugging percentage while ranking in the top 10 in runs (6th), RBI (t2nd), 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 25 home runs for his career, standing just one shy of Dawsen Bacho (2017-22) for 10th

BYRD IS THE WORD
• Sophomore Jaxon Byrd shined in his first start of the year at Pacific on Wednesday, needing just 44 pitches to get through a career-high 5.0 innings
• Byrd, whose longest previous outing was five, two-inning appearances, allowed just two hits and faced just two over the minimum against the Tigers
• Thus far, he has allowed only one run in three appearances (9.0 IP), holding opponents to a .194 average

"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 two runs on 11 hits -- only three of those for extra bases -- over his last 12.2 innings (seven appearances) while striking out 17 against three walks
• Richards has posted a 1.42 ERA in that stretch while holding opposing batters to a .234 (11-for-47) average
• In the process, Richards has lowered his ERA by more than 13 points down to 4.60 on the year 
• His 11 appearances this year rank tied for 19th in the NCAA, just two off the national lead

WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU?
• Freshman Kade Brown enters the weekend with a WAC-low .102 average against, while his three saves are tied for the top spot in the league
• He has allowed only five hits in 14.2 innings, ranking tied for second in the WAC in fewest hits allowed
• His 19 strikeouts rank third on the team while his 11.66 strikeouts per nine innings is sixth in the league

TAKE A WALK... TO THE DUGOUT
• The Hornet staff has struck out 187 hitters this season -- ranking third in the league in that category -- while standing second with only 70 walks allowed
• Sacramento State is second in the WAC and No. 18 in the NCAA with 3.36 walks allowed per nine innings

HANGING WITH MR. COOPER
• Right-hander Cooper Rons had won three of his previous four appearances before suffering his first loss of the season at Pacific on Wednesday
• Despite the defeat, Rons has allowed only two earned over his last 13 innings (seven appearances) for a 1.38 ERA, scattering 11 hits and striking out 16 in that span
• Opponents are batting just .229 (11-for-48) against him in that stretch