SACRAMENTO — A busy week following the Easter holiday has the Sacramento State baseball team playing five times over the next seven days beginning with back-to-back contests early in the week. The Hornets open on Monday (April 1) at 6 p.m. against San Francisco at home before heading up the hill for a rematch with Nevada on Tuesday (April 2) at 6:05 p.m.
PLAY BALL…
WHAT: San Francisco (15-13) at Sacramento State (11-17)
WHEN: Monday, April 1, 2024
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
BUY TICKETS: HornetSports.com
WHAT: Sacramento State (11-17) at Nevada (12-12)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 2, 2024
TIME: 6:05 p.m. PT
WHERE: Reno, Nev.
STADIUM: Don Weir Field at Peccole Park
WATCH LIVE: Mountain West Network
LIVE STATS: NevadaWolfPack.com
BUY TICKETS: NevadaWolfPack.com
SCOUTING THE DONS…
• San Francisco enters the week with a 15-13 overall record and an 0-3 mark in West Coast Conference play
• The Dons were swept in their WCC series opener against Santa Clara at home over the weekend, dropping the opener 5-0 before losing both ends of a doubleheader, 2-1 and 2-0, on Saturday
• USF has lost five of the last six, with the only win in that stretch at 5-2 win at San Jose State on March 26
• 20 of the Dons' 28 games have been at home as San Francisco is just 4-4 away from home
• Junior infielder Kody Watanabe leads the offense, batting a team-high .341 with 21 runs scored, 10 doubles, a pair of home runs, and 20 RBI
• The Dons are batting .251 as a team, outscoring opponents by a 157-143 count, and have stolen 30 bases in 47 attempts
• As a staff, San Francisco's pitchers sport a 4.72 ERA and a .256 average against, while striking out 226 over 248 innings
SERIES NOTES…
• San Francisco leads the all-time series by a 71-64-1 count, including a 40-32 lead in Sacramento State's Division I history
• The Dons and the Hornets haven't met since the 2022 season when USF took both midweek contests with a 6-5 win in 11 innings in San Francisco and a 4-2 win in Sacramento
• Prior to that, Sacramento State had won three of the previous four, the last coming on May 16, 2021, by a 4-0 score in San Francisco
• The Hornets are 36-35-1 at home against the Dons, last posting a win in the first game of a home doubleheader on May 15, 2021, by a 7-6 score
• San Francisco has won the last two games at John Smith Field and four of the last five dating back to 2017
• Four of the last six meetings have been decided by two runs or fewer
SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK…
• Nevada enters the week with a 12-12 overall record and a 7-4 mark in Mountain West Conference play
• The Wolf Pack split their first two games against league rival Air Force over the weekend, with the series finale on Saturday suspended due to weather and Nevada holding a 5-2 lead in the sixth
• Prior to the loss to the Falcons in game two of the series, the Wolf Pack had won four straight, taking the final two games of a series against in-state rival UNLV and posting a midweek win over Pacific before walking-off Air Force in the series opener
• Counting the suspended finale, the Wolf Pack have played nine of their 24 games at home, posting a 5-3 mark in their eight completed contests
• Senior infielder Michael Ball leads the team with a .390 average, scoring 23 runs, slugging 13 doubles, hitting five home runs and driving in 26
• He is one of six regulars batting better than .300 on the year as Nevada is hitting .293 as a team with a 156-139 lead in the scoring column
• As a staff, the Wolf Pack has posted a 5.37 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .271 average, while striking out 202 in 213 innings against only 92 walks
SERIES NOTES…
• Nevada holds a 96-84 lead in the series with Sacramento State according to records dating back to 1954, including a 57-33 lead as Division I rivals
• The Hornets won the first meeting between the two programs at home back on March 19, posting an explosive 21-4 victory at John Smith Field
• That win was the third straight victory for Sacramento State in the series and four of the last five, winning both midweek meetings by the scores of 9-4 and 12-8 in 2023 in addition to this year's meeting
• Nevada leads the series in games played in Reno by a commanding 52-27 count, with last year's 12-8 victory snapping a three-game road skid for Sacramento State
• The Hornets' 21 runs in the first meeting this year were the most by either team in the series since the Wolf Pack posted a 22-15 win on May 4, 1997, while they were the most by a Sacramento State team in the series since a 23-8 win on March 14, 1983
• The combined 25 runs in the first meeting this year are the most since the two combined for the same number of runs in a 20-5 Wolf Pack win on April 5, 2022
CONFERENCE CALL…
• Monday marks the sixth game against a West Coast Conference opponent this year
• The Hornets finished 1-2 in a three-game series against Loyola Marymount to start the season and are 1-1 against Pacific
• Sacramento State is 279-300-4 against the current WCC baseball lineup
• The 136 games against San Francisco are the second-most against a current WCC opponent in school history behind the 181 meetings with Pacific
• The Hornets are 6-4 in their last 10 against WCC teams
• Tuesday's game at Nevada is the fourth against Mountain West Conference opponents this year as the Hornets are 1-1 versus Fresno State and 1-0 against the Wolf Pack
• Sacramento State is a combined 191-331-4 against the current Mountain West lineup
• The 181 meetings with the Wolf Pack are the most against a current Mountain West opponent in school history, just ahead of the 179 meetings against the Bulldogs
• The Hornets have won six of their last eight games against Mountain West opponents after going 4-1 against the league in 2023
MIDWEEK MADNESS…
• This week's games against San Francisco and Nevada mark the eighth and ninth midweek games for Sacramento State this season
• The Hornets are 2-5 in their previous seven midweek games, posting wins over Fresno State on Feb. 21 and Nevada on March 19
• Five of Sacramento State's previous seven midweek games have been decided by two runs or fewer, downing the Bulldogs, 8-6, in the first meeting of the year between the two while falling at California (3-1 on Feb. 27), against Fresno State (5-4 on March 12), at Pacific (3-2 on March 20), and at UC Davis (3-2 on March 26)
LOOKING AHEAD…
• Following the two midweek contests, the Hornets return to WAC play with a three-game series against California Baptist at John Smith Field beginning Friday (April 5) and running through Sunday (April 7)
• First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, 7 p.m. on Saturday, and Noon on Sunday
• It will be the final home games for two weeks as the Hornets open their longest road swing of the season, playing nine straight games on the road against Oregon (April 9-10), SeattleU (April 12-14), Stanford (April 16), USC (April 19 & 21), and Santa Clara (April 20)
HORNET SHORT HOPS…
• Although his 18-game hitting streak came to an end in the opener at Grand Canyon last week, senior Gunner Gouldsmith closed out the series with a big day at the plate, tying his career high for the second time this season with four hits
• One of those four hits left the yard as Gouldsmith slugged his first home run of the year and his first since April 1, 2023, at Stephen F. Austin
• Gouldsmith now has a team-high nine multi-hit games this year, which lead teammates Jorge Bojorquez and JP Smith by one, and his 26 career multi-hit games are this among active Hornets behind Bojorquez (56) and Cesar Valero (31)
• Valero closed out the Grand Canyon series with his sixth home run of the season and the 29th of his career, moving him into a tie for sixth on the school's all-time list with Gabe Jacobo (2006-08)
• Valero is now just six home runs shy of the school's career record of 35 shared by Harvey Hargrove (1995-97) and Martin Vincelli-Simard (2019-23)
• Valero has hits in 13 of his last 17 contests, with five mult-hit games in that stretch and 16 RBI
• Sacramento State came up with 13 hits in their series-opening victory over the Lopes and added 12 more in the series finale, giving the Hornets double-digit hits in 10 of their last 14 games and 13 games overall this year
• Of the 13 hits in the opener against GCU, seven of those went for doubles -- the most since Sacramento State had the same number against the Lopes in the same ballpark on May 8, 2022
• Of the seven doubles in that game, junior Matt Masciangelo tied the program's single-game record with three of them, becoming the first Hornet to finish with three since Ryan Walstad did so at Tarleton on March 14, 2021, and the 13th Sacramento State player overall to accomplish the feat
• The eight extra-base hits total in that game were the most since the Hornets had eight in the 2023 regular season finale against Utah Tech
• The three doubles gave Masciangelo eight on the year, trailing Valero by one for the team lead
• Bojorquez hit .455 in the series against Grand Canyon, including a 3-for-5 night with three RBI in the opener against the Lopes where he finished a triple short of the cycle
• He also slugged his first home run of the season (and the 19th of his career) that produced the game-winning runs in the 5-4 victory — his fifth career game-winning RBI
• Bojorquez has now hit at least one home run in each of his five seasons in the green and gold
• Senior right-hander Evan Gibbons pitched a gem against Grand Canyon in the series opener en route to his first win of the year, notching his second "quality start" of the season with a career-high tying seven innings pitched while allowing just one run on three hits and striking out a pair
• Junior catcher Elie Kligman has reached base safely in each of his last seven contests, hitting safely in six of those while drawing a walk in the seventh
• Kligman, who leads the team with 16 walks on the season, has drawn at least one walk in each of his last six games and in 12 of his 18 appearances overall
