SACRAMENTO — Hosting its final midweek game of the year, the Sacramento State baseball team looks for a season sweep of I-80 rival Nevada on Tuesday, welcoming the Wolf Pack one more time to John Smith Field for a 6 p.m. first pitch.
PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Nevada (20-22, 13-11 Mountain West) at Sacramento State (23-26, 11-13 WAC)
WHEN: Tuesday, May 7, 2024
TIME: 6 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Nevada | Western Athletic Conference
SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK…
• Nevada enters the week with a 20-22 overall record and a 13-11 mark in Mountain West Conference play, standing tied for third in the league and just a game behind Fresno State and New Mexico for first place
• The Wolf Pack face UC Davis on Monday (May 6) before taking on Sacramento State, then hop on a plane for a three-game set against the Lobos in Albuquerque
• Nevada hasn't played since a 4-2 loss against Saint Mary's on May 1 after weather forced the cancelation of its non-conference series against Houston Christian over the weekend
• In their last weekend series back on April 26-29, the Wolf Pack took 3-of-4 from Air Force on the road
• Only 16 of Nevada's 42 games this season have been played at home as the Wolf Pack are 11-15 on the road
• Senior infielder Michael Ball enters the week leading the Nevada offense with a .330 average among regulars, scoring 34 runs, clubbing 20 doubles, and slugging nine home runs to go with a team-high 49 RBI
• Junior outfielder Taylor Holder leads the team with 13 home runs to go with 34 RBI, hitting .326 on the season with a 1.090 OPS
• Five Wolf Pack regulars are batting better than .300 on the year as the team is hitting a combined .292 with 62 home runs and an .870 OPS while outscoring the opposition by 10 (294-284)
• On the mound, Nevada's pitching staff sports a 5.77 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP over 212 innings, striking out 192 with opponents batting .276 against them
SERIES NOTES…
• Nevada leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 96-85 count according to available records dating back to 1954, including a 57-34 lead in the Hornets' Division I era
• The Hornets, however, have won four straight overall — and five of the last six — in the series after posting a 21-9 victory at home back on March 19 and a 7-3 win in Reno on April 2
• The four straight Sacramento State wins in the series is the longest for the Hornets since winning four straight from May 24, 2012, to Feb. 25, 2014
• A win Tuesday would give Sacramento State its longest winning streak in the series since winning seven straight from 1962-64 — part of a run that saw the Hornets open the series with wins in 26 of the first 30 meetings between the two programs
• Sacramento State is 56-42-1 at home against Nevada, winning three straight — and four of the last five — meetings between the two at John Smith Field
• 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…
• Tuesday marks the fifth game against a Mountain West Conference opponent this year as the Hornets have gone 2-0 against Nevada and 1-1 against Fresno State
• Sacramento State is a combined 192-331-4 against the current Mountain West membership
• The 182 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 seven of their last nine games against Mountain West opponents after going 4-1 against the league in 2023
MIDWEEK MADNESS…
• Tuesday's game against Nevada marks the 14th — and final — midweek game of the year for Sacramento State and the seventh at home in 2024
• The Hornets are 5-8 in their previous 13 midweek contests after a 3-2 loss to UC Davis last week at home
• Six of Sacramento State's midweek games have been decided by two runs or fewer — four of those decided by a single run
• The Hornets have faced opponents from the Mountain West (3-1), Pac-12 (1-3), Big West (0-3), and West Coast Conference (1-1) in midweek games this year
• The 14 midweek games this year are the most since the 2003 squad played the same number
LOOKING AHEAD…
• Following Tuesday's game with Nevada, the Hornets will host their final homestand of the season, welcoming Stephen F. Austin to Northern California for a three-game series beginning Friday (May 10) and running through Sunday (May 12)
• Start times are scheduled for 4 p.m. on Friday, 7 p.m. on Saturday, and Noon on Sunday, with the Sacramento State senior class honored following the final out of Sunday's series finale
HORNET SHORT HOPS…
• With the two wins in Arlington over the weekend, Head Coach Reggie Christiansen is now four WAC victories shy of 200 for his career, claiming his 195th and 196th career league wins
• The Hornets' 13-2 win in seven innings to open the series at UT Arlington marked the team's third run-rule win of the season joining an 11-1 win in seven against California Baptist on April 7 and an eight-inning 14-2 win on April 12 at Seattle U
• The seven-run sixth inning in that game marked the 19th time over 13 games that Sacramento State has scored four-or-more runs in a single inning this year, improving to 11-2 in those contests
• Sophomore JP Smith slugged three home runs in the series win at UT Arlington last weekend, giving him 19 for the season and 33 for his career
• The 19 home runs are second on the school's single season list, trailing only Harvey Hargrove's record of 26 in 1997, while the 33 home runs are just two shy of Hargrove (1995-97) and Martin Vincelli-Simard (2019-23) for the most in school history
• Smith's two home runs in the series finale with the Mavericks marked the sixth time this year that the sophomore has had a multi-homer game — with Cesar Valero (March 5 vs. UC Davis) and Ryan Christiansen (April 9 at Oregon) joining him with multi-homer games this year
• Junior Matt Masciangelo was hit for the 23rd time this season in the opener against UT Arlington, extending his school single-season record and moving to within 14 of the NCAA single-season mark of 37 shared by Delaware State's Scott Davis (2012) and Vanderbilt's Brian Harris (2010)
• Masciangelo's 23 HBPs are now four shy of the school's career top 10
• Sophomore Jacob Cortez extended his hitting streak to eight games with hits in all four games last week — tied for the second-longest by a Hornet this year
• During his run, Cortez is batting .385 (10-for-26) with four runs scored, a double, four walks, and an RBI
• Cortez has also reached base safely in each of his last 16 games dating back to the series finale at Grand Canyon on March 30 — the second-longest such streak behind only Gunner Gouldsmith's 18-game hitting streak
• Cortez has hit safely in 14 of those 16 games, drawing a pair of walks in each of the remaining two games to keep the streak alive
• Senior Jorge Bojorquez has also been a mainstay on the basepaths, reaching safely in each of his last 14 contests dating back to the series opener at Seattle U, hitting safely in 10 of those games and drawing six walks combined in the remaining four games to keep his run active
• With six hits on the weekend, Bojorquez now has 220 for his career, passing Dawsen Bacho (2017-22) for eighth on the career list — six behind David Flores (226 from 2005-08) for seventh
• Bojorquez and junior Tyler White each had four-hit games in the opener against UT Arlington with White setting a career single-game high in the green and gold while Bojorquez tied his career high for hits in a game
• The two became the first teammates with four hits in the same game since Jeffrey Heard and Cesar Valero did so against Pacific on May 18 of last year
• Gouldsmith logged multiple hits in all three games of the UT Arlington series, batting .538 (7-for-13) against the Mavericks atop the Hornet lineup
• The senior now has a team-high 17 multi-hit games this year, shading Bojorquez and his 15
• Gouldsmith has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games, hitting .311 (23-for-74) while scoring 11 runs, driving in 14 more, slugging six doubles, and walking 10 times
• Senior right-hander Evan Gibbons pitched his first career complete game in the series opener against UTA — the first for a Hornet in almost two years to the day when Eli Saul went the full nine at Grand Canyon on May 6, 2022
• The performance was his sixth-straight "quality start," allowing two runs or fewer in each of those outings, and his seventh overall in 12 starts this year
• Gibbons' seven "quality starts" are the most in a single season by a Hornet starter since Saul had eight during that 2022 campaign
• Sophomore Xavier Richards has allowed only four earned runs on 23 hits — only four of those for extra bases — over his last 29.2 innings (17 appearances) while striking out 32 against 12 walks
• Richards has posted a 1.21 ERA in that stretch while holding opponents to a .211 (23-for-109) average
• Freshman closer Kade Brown picked up his third win of the year in the finale against UT Arlington, getting the final four outs and striking out two in the 7-5 win
• Brown continues to lead the WAC in opponent batting average (.178) and is tied for first with seven saves
• No other pitching staff in the WAC has thrown more innings that the Hornets (433.2), who rank among the top three in the league in ERA (3rd - 4.86), opponent batting average (2nd - .264), strikeouts (3rd - 389), pickoffs (1st - 10), and fewest walks allowed (3rd -155)
• The Hornets turned at least one double play in each of their four games last week, including a pair against UC Davis and in each of the first two games of the series against UT Arlington
• The 40 double plays rank tied for fourth in the WAC and Sacramento State has turned multiple double plays in a game 11 times this year
HORNETS IN THE WAC (as of May 5)…
Hitting
• JP Smith - 9th in slugging (.593); 8th in runs scored (390); t9th in RBIs (40); 2nd in home runs (19); t6th in total bases (112); 7th in at-bats (189)
• Matt Masciangelo - 11th in on-base percentage (.435); t11th in doubles (13); 1st in hit by pitch (23)
• Gunner Gouldsmith - t4th in hits (65); 1st in at-bats (212)
• Cesar Valero - t11th in doubles (13); t11th in at-bats (180)
• Cameron Sewell - t3rd in triples (2)
• Jose Ruiz - t3rd in triples (2)
Pitching
• Xavier Richards - 6th in ERA (2.76); t2nd in appearances (21); t3rd in fewest runs allowed (11); t5th in fewest runs allowed per game (3.03)
• Kade Brown - 1st in opponent batting average (.178); t1st in saves (7); t7th in appearances (20); 5th in fewest hits allowed (23); 3rd in strikeouts per game (12.48); 2nd in fewest hits allowed per game (5.86)
• Evan Gibbons - 13th in opponent batting average (.232); t5th in innings (66.2); t3rd in innings per game (5.56); 13th in walks per game (2.43); 11th in fewest hits allowed per game (7.56)
• Tyler Stewart - t8th in innings (63.2); t7th in innings per game (5.31); 9th in walks per game (1.98)
• Andrew Monson - t10th in appearances (19)
• Noah Lucchesi - t10th in appearances (19)
• Cooper Rons - 13th in strikeouts per game (9.77)
HORNETS IN THE NCAA (as of May 5 / Top 100 only)…
Team
• 30th in double plays (40)
• 51st in double plays per game (0.82)
• 54th in ERA (4.88)
• 98th in hit by pitch (68)
• 75th in hits allowed per nine innings (9.17)
• 23rd in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.51)
• 28th in WHIP (1.38)
• 9th in walks allowed per nine innings (3.22)
Player
• Matt Masciangelo - 6th in hit by pitches per game (0.52); 4th in hit by pitches (23)
• JP Smith - 20th in home runs (19); 41st in home runs per game (0.40)
• Gunner Gouldsmith - 91st in toughest to strikeout (9.2)
• Evan Gibbons - 36th in complete games (1); 19th in games started (12); 53rd in WHIP (1.11)
• Tyler Stewart - 19th in games started (12); 84th in WHIP (1.16); 60th in walks allowed per nine innings (1.98)
• Kade Brown - 25th in saves (7)
