SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento State baseball team hosts its fourth consecutive weekend series to start the 2024 regular season, opening Western Athletic Conference play with a three-game set against Utah Valley on March 8-10 at John Smith Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, 6 p.m. on Saturday, and Noon for Sunday's series finale.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Utah Valley (3-8, 0-0 WAC) at Sacramento State (5-7, 0-0 WAC)
WHEN: Fri.-Sun., March 8-10, 2024
TIME: 2 p.m. / 6 p.m. / Noon (All Times Pacific)
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 2 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 3 - WAC Digital | Live Stats
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Utah Valley | Western Athletic Conference

PROBABLE STARTERS:
FRIDAY: RHP Tyler Stewart (1-1, 4.20 ERA) vs. RHP Chase Hennessey (0-1, 30.86 ERA)
SATURDAY: RHP Evan Gibbons (0-1, 4.80 ERA) vs. RHP Ethan Fowlks (2-1, 5.14 ERA)
SUNDAY: RHP Andrew Overland (0-1, 2.79 ERA) vs. TBA

CONGRATULATIONS TO CHRISTIANSEN
• With the win in last weekend's opener against Minnesota, Head Coach Reggie Christiansen picked up his 500th career Division I victory by a 7-5 score over the Gophers, improving to 501-450 (.527) following Sunday's win over Pacific
• That milestone joins both his 500th overall win as a head coach (April 30, 2023 at New Mexico State) and his 400th win as the Hornets' head coach (May 20, 2023 vs. Utah Tech)
• In 14 years as head coach at Sacramento State, Christiansen is 405-338 (.545) as the Hornet mentor
• He is also 512-480 (.516) as a collegiate head coach overall
• Christiansen is nine game shy of coaching in his 1,000 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 WOLVERINES
• Utah Valley enters the week with a 3-8 overall record, having lost its last four straight
• The Wolverines were picked to finish second in the league according to a vote of the coaches during the preseason, picking up a 75 points and a first-place vote
• Utah Valley is coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the University of Portland last week at home, falling 16-8 in the opener, 7-5 in game two, and 8-6 in 10 innings in the finale
• Eight of the team's 11 games this season have been on the road
• Senior outfielder Calyn Halvorson paces the offense, batting .415 with a 1.017 OPS and leading the team with 17 hits while slugging two home runs and nine RBI
• Preseason WAC Co-Player of the Year Daniel Dickinson is batting .340 with a 1.158 OPS, scoring 16 runs, slugging five home runs, and driving in a team-high 11
• Utah Valley has slugged 19 home runs on the year, which leads in the WAC, and is batting a collective .275 on the year, which stands fifth
• Six different pitchers have earned weekend starts for the Wolverines thus far this year with senior RHP Braden Boisvert (0-1, 7.20 ERA), senior RHP Mitch Mueller (0-0, 2.08 ERA), and senior RHP Chase Hennessey (0-1, 30.86 ERA) earning a pair each
• Overall, the staff owns a 7.31 ERA while opponents are batting .303 against them this year

SERIES NOTES
• Sacramento State leads the all-time series with Utah Valley by a 38-21 count dating back to 2005
• The Hornets have won 12 of the last 14 meetings, including taking 2-of-3 from the Wolverines last year
• The last six games have all been played at John Smith Field, where the Hornets are 23-11 in the series
• Sacramento State has won eight of the last nine meetings played on its home field
• The two programs have played in a few nailbiters as of late, as five of the last seven meetings have been decided by two runs or fewer
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen is 29-17 against Utah Valley at the helm of the Hornets

WAC LID-LIFTERS
• The Hornets enter their 23rd season – and the 18th year since rejoining the league in 2006 -- of WAC play in 2024, opening at home for only the 11th time and the fourth time in the last eight years
• Sacramento State has lost its last two WAC-opening series after Utah Tech (2022) and Grand Canyon (2023) each took 2-of-3 from the Hornets
• The last series win to open conference play came in 2021 when Sacramento State swept a four-game series with Utah Valley in Orem, Utah
• That year marks the only time that the Hornets have opened WAC play against the Wolverines since 2006
• Sacramento State has won three of its last four series-opening games to kick-off WAC play
• The Hornets are 9-8 in their 17 WAC-opening series since 2006, sweeping four of those series, while being swept three times

JUST KEEP SWINGING, SWINGING, SWINGING
• Sophomore JP Smith has done just that this season, slugging at least one home run in three of the team's last four games
• His two home runs against UC Davis brought his season total to eight on the year, which leads the Western Athletic Conference and ranks tied for No. 3 in the nation behind only Georgia Tech's Drew Burress and Georgia's Charlie Condon entering the weekend
• The performance against the Aggies marked the sophomore's third multi-home game of the year (Fresno State on Feb. 21 and Minnesota on March 1) and the fifth of his career when you include his games against Utah Valley (April 6) and Utah Tech (May 20) last season
• His eight home runs this year have accounted for more than half of his 14 hits on the season
• 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 22 home runs for his career, standing just four shy of the all-time top 10
• The eight home runs are six shy of matching his total from last year, which ranked tied for 10th on the school's single-season list
• Five of Smith's eight home runs have all come in his last four games
• He enters the weekend also leading the WAC in slugging (.844) while standing among the top 10 in runs (t7th), RBI (t3rd), total bases (1st)

HAIL CESAR!
• Not to be outdone, senior Cesar Valero joined Smith in the multi-homer club this season, also slugging a pair against UC Davis
• It was Valero's third career multi-homer game of his career and the first since he did so in back-to-back games at New Mexico State on April 9-10, 2022
• The total against the Aggies pushed his career total to 26, moving him past Rhys Hoskins (2012-14) and into a tie with Dawsen Bacho (2017-22) for ninth on the school's all-time list
• Valero's total is just nine shy of the career record of 35 shared by Harvey Hargrove (1995-97) and Martin Vincelli-Simard (2019-23)

FOUR!
• Sacramento State's four home runs against UC Davis marked the Hornets' second four-homer game of the season after they went deep four times against Fresno State on Feb. 21

GOING DEEP... TABLE FOR TWO
• Smith and Valero's multi-homer games against UC Davis marked the first time that a Hornet duo had accomplished the feat in the same game since Ryan Blair and Wes Oberlin did so at Louisiana Tech on April 5, 2008
• In fact, it was the fourth time that a Sacramento State tandem had done it in the program's Division I history, joining Jack Arroyo and Brian Blauser against San Francisco on May 4, 2004, and Brandon Marshall and Shawn McGuire against Saint Mary's on March 1, 1998

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 2023
• Sacramento State's 13 home runs through the first 12 games this year are the most since the Hornets slugged 13 through the first 12 games of the 2004 campaign when they hit 60 as a team
• Last year, Sacramento State had 11 long balls through the first 12 games led by four players with two apiece

MASCIANGEL-OW!
• Junior Matt Masciangelo was plunked by a pitch for the 11th time this season against UC Davis on Tuesday night, breaking a tie with San Francisco's Kody Watanabe and Duke's Wallace Clark for the NCAA lead
• He also is tied for the nation's lead with 1.00 hit by pitches per game
• 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

"BASE"-D ON A TRUE STORY
• Masciangelo has reached base safely in all 11 of his appearances with the Hornets, hitting safely four times and drawing a walk or hit by pitch in the other seven
• The junior's .522 on-base percentage leads the WAC entering the weekend

HIGH FIVE... AGAIN...
• Senior Gunner Gouldsmith extended his team-best hitting streak to five games -- his second five-game streak of the year after opening the season with hits in the team's first five contests
• The streak is tied for the longest by a Hornet this year, joining Tyler White's five-game hitting streak (Feb. 16-24)

6+4+3=2
• Sacramento State has picked up right where it left off in 2023, already turning a WAC-leading 12 double plays
• The Hornets' defense enters the weekend ranked No. 20 in the nation with eight double plays and No. 24 in double plays per game (1.00)
• On the flip side, Sacramento State batters have grounded into a double play only five times this year
• Sacramento State's defense turned 50 double plays in 2023, ranking No. 21 in the NCAA and No. 22 with 0.89 double plays per game
• The 50 double plays were the most since 2016 when the Hornets finished with 51 at the end of the season

TAKE YOUR BASE
• Junior Elie Kligman has been able to get his steps in during his eight appearances this year
• The Las Vegas native nearly has as many walks (10) as at-bats (20) this year, collecting at least one base on balls in every game but two and multiple walks in three of those eight games
• Reaching base safely in his last seven games, Kligman's 10 walks are tied for sixth in the WAC entering the weekend and he his one of only eight players in the league with double-digit walks as of March 7

HANGING WITH MR. COOPER
• Senior right-hander Cooper Rons shined in his first start of the year (third of his Hornet career) on Tuesday against UC Davis, allowing just one hit over three scoreless innings while striking out three
• Rons hasn't allowed a run over his last 7.2 innings, allowing just six hits and striking out eight
• In that span, he has also limited opponents to a .222 (6-for-27) average
• His 1.86 ERA is the best on the staff entering the weekend, striking out 10 over 9.2 innings with a .278 average against

"X" GONNA GIVE IT TO YA
• Sophomore right-hander Xavier Richards has been a big part of the bullpen's success, allowing just three hits over his last 5.1 innings (three appearances) while striking out nine without a walk
• Richards has held hitters to a .150 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

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
• Brown has not allowed a run or a hit over his last four relief appearances (8.0 innings), walking three and striking out nine hitters in that span
• He picked up his first career save in the win over Fresno State on Feb. 21, getting the final four outs in an 8-6 Hornet victory, and added his second as part of a 7-5 win over Minnesota on March 1
• Opponents are hitting just .069 against him this year