PREVIEW
• Sacramento State (23-18, 4-4) will play its final regular season games when the Hornets host Montana (17-28, 1-11) for a three-game series Friday-Saturday at Shea Stadium.
• The two teams will play a doubleheader Friday at noon, followed by a game Saturday at noon.
• All three games will stream on ESPN+ with Will Schilling handling the play-by-play duties.
• This weekend also marks the final Big Sky Conference regular season games.
• Sacramento State is 25-6 all-time vs. Montana, including seven straight wins against the Griz. The last Montana win came in the 2021 Big Sky Tournament. The Hornets have won each of the last 16 regular season meetings vs. Montana (last UM regular season win was in 2018 in Missoula).
• The Hornets, who have seen four conference games washed away because of precipitation, were supposed to have finished with 15 conference games. But, instead, the team will finish the conference season with just 11 league games as the four postponements will not be rescheduled. That includes three road games at Idaho State, and a home contest vs. Portland State.
• Mathematically, even if the Hornets go 3-0 vs. Montana, they would still not be able to win a regular season title. Sacramento State was co-regular season champs last year with Idaho State.
• Currently, Portland State (7-4) and Northern Colorado (7-4) are tied for first, followed by Idaho State (5-3), Weber State (7-5), the Hornets (4-4) and Montana (1-11).
• The double-elimination Big Sky Tournament will take place May 8-11 in Pocatello, Idaho. All six teams qualify for the four-day event with the top two seeds earning a first round bye. The tournament champion earns the Big Sky's automatic berth to NCAA Regionals.
• Prior to Saturday's game, about 11:40 a.m., Sacramento State will honor nine seniors for their contributions to the program - Milan Machado-Buckley, Arianna Pires, Savannah Wahl, Kennedy Echols, Samantha Parish, Alexis Parish, Haley Hanson, Marissa Bertuccio and Lewa Day.
• Machado-Buckley had to medically retire and was not able to play this season. Lexie Webb, another senior, cannot be at Saturday's game.
• Sacramento State has played just 12 home games this season, and is 8-4 in those outcomes. The Hornets have played just twice at home since March 19. That was a doubleheader split with Portland State on April 12, and the next day's game between the teams was rained out.
• The Hornets have been dealing with injuries to two of the best players in program history. Third baseman Lewa Day has been limited to one pinch hitting appearance in the last six games, and pitcher Marissa Bertuccio could not make the start on Saturday at Weber State. Both Day and Bertuccio are questionable for this week's games.
• Bertuccio has been dominant this season, winning 11 games with 15 complete games in 16 starts. She has a Big Sky-best 1.94 ERA and opponents are hitting just .220 when she's in the circle. Her ERA in Big Sky play (1.91) is nearly identical, and Big Sky hitters are batting just .160. The right-hander recently became just the fourth Hornet in the Div. I era to strike out 500 career batters.
• Jenna Birth, a sophomore, filled in for Bertuccio on Saturday in the circle. The right-hander was making her first career spring collegiate appearance, and proceeded to pick up a complete-game victory in the nine inning win. She allowed just five hits with seven strikeouts while throwing a whopping 209 pitches in a much-needed victory for the Hornets.
• To say the Hornets have missed Day's bat would be an understatement. The Hornets have scored just seven runs in the 46 innings since Day got hurt in the first inning of Game 1 vs. Portland State.
• The Hornets are a combined 109-66 in Big Sky Conference play during Lori Perez's head coaching tenure. That includes conference championships in 2018 and 2023.
• Records/milestones set this year: Lewa Day career homers (56), runs scored (142) and RBIs (166). Haley Hanson single-season steals (19) and career steals (42). Marissa Bertuccio fourth Hornet during Div. I era to register 500 career strikeouts. Both Day and Caroline Evans had four hits in win at New Mexico State, tying the Hornet single-game record.
• The Hornets are 19-3 when scoring first, and 4-13 when the opposition scores first.