SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Fresh off a split of its season-opening series against San Francisco over the weekend, the Sacramento State baseball team has a quick turnaround for yet another four-game set, welcoming Ball State to Northern California. The series with the Cardinals begins with a single-game on Thursday (Feb. 20), followed by a doubleheader on Friday (Feb. 21), and a single-game finale on Saturday (Feb. 22), with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. each day.
PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Ball State (2-1, 0-0 MAC) at Sacramento State (2-2, 0-0 WAC)
WHEN: Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 20-22
TIME: 2 PM each day
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1 - WAC International | Live Stats
Game 2 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 3 - ESPN+ | Live Stats
Game 4 - WAC International | Live Stats
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Ball State | Western Athletic Conference
PROBABLE STARTERS
Game 1 - RHP Connor Hutchinson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at Sean Carey (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2 - LHP Keegan Johnson (1-0, 4.50 ERA) at Tyler Stewart (1-0, 1.80 ERA)
Game 3 - RHP Jacob Hartlaub (1-0, 0.00 ERA) at Evan Gibbons (0-1, 13.50 ERA)
Game 4 - RHP Drue Young (0-1, 9.82 ERA) at RHP Colin Hunter (0-1, 12.00 ERA)
WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• Due to conflicts with other events, Thursday's series opener and Saturday's series finale will be streamed live on the WAC International (wacinternational.tv) platform, while Friday's doubleheader will be streamed live on ESPN+
• Links to the video stream, as well as live scoring, are available on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com
ABOUT THE CARDINALS
• Ball State enters the week fresh off a 2-1 record at the Swig & Swine College Classic in Charleston, S.C., posting wins over Towson (7-2) and Maryland (5-3) while falling to UMass Lowell (12-6) and their finale against UAB canceled
• The Cardinals are the midst of a run of 13 straight road games to start the year and is not scheduled to play a home game until opening a three-game series against Mid-American Conference rival Western Michigan on March 7-9
• Ball State returns 17 players off of last season's squad and welcomes seven true freshmen and 13 transfers to a team that won 35 games and made a run to the MAC Tournament championship game as the No. 3 seed
• According to a vote of the league's head coaches, the Cardinals were picked to win the MAC in 2025, receiving six first-place votes and 95 points to finish ahead of Kent State (84 points) and Miami (82 points)
• Junior Dylan Grego is the team's leading hitter after opening weekend, batting .364 (4-for-11) with an RBI, while junior utilityman Blake Bevis has had his only two hits on the year leave the yard while driving in five
• Ball State is scheduled to throw RHP Connor Hutchinson (first start of the year) on Thursday, LHP Keegan Johnson (1-0, 4.50 ERA) and RHP Jacob Hartlaub (1-0, 0.00 ERA) in Friday's doubleheader, and RHP Drue Young (0-1, 9.82 ERA) in Saturday's finale
SERIES NOTES
• This week marks the first-ever meeting with Ball State in baseball
• The Hornets' men's basketball team has faced the Cardinals twice in a home-and-home during the 1991-92 season
• Sacramento State's men's tennis team posted a 6-1 win in 2009
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 7-3 against the current MAC alignment, having faced only three of the 11 baseball-playing members
• The Hornets' last faced a MAC opponent during the 2023 season when Central Michigan took 3-of-4 at John Smith Field at the beginning of March
• Sacramento State is also 4-0 against Northern Illinois, sweeping the Huskies to open the 2022 season, and 2-0 against Eastern Michigan, last facing the Eagles at home in March of 2001
LET'S PLAY FOUR!
• Sacramento State will extend its weekends in each of the first three series of the season, playing four games against San Francisco, Ball State, and South Dakota State, instead of the usual three
• This weekend marks the first time in the program's recorded history that it will open the season with three, four-game series
• It is also the first time that the Hornets will play three, four-game non-conference series at any point in a season since the 2015 campaign when they faced Utah, Portland, and Cal Poly in four-game sets
• Sacramento State finished 8-4 in those 12 games with series wins over the Utes (3-1) and Pilots (3-1) along with a series split with the Mustangs
AS OF NOW, WE ARE KEEPING SCORE
• Home plate got quite a workout from the Hornets during their season-opening series with San Francisco
• The Hornets scored a total of 35 runs against in the Dons in the four-game home-and-home series, plating the most runs in a season-opening series since scoring 43 runs in a three-game set at UNLV on Feb. 19-21, 2010
• Sacramento State won the first two games against the Rebels by the scores of 10-8 (11) and 19-5 before falling in the finale by an 18-14 score
• This weekend also marked the most runs in any series since the Hornets put up 36 runs against Utah Tech in the final set of the 2023 season, sweeping the Trailblazers by the scores of 13-6, 12-3, and 11-2 at home
BATS FOR MATTS... KEEP MATTS WARM
• There weren't many hitters -- only 21 in fact -- across the country that got off to a hotter start than the Hornets' Matt Masciangelo
• The senior outfielder finished the four-game series against the Dons by hitting .636 (7-for-11) with three runs scored and three RBI, posting an OPS of 1.394
• After entering the series opener as a defensive substitution, Masciangelo collected multiple hits in the last three games, having now reached base safely in each of his last 18 games dating back to last year
• He has hit safely in 10 of those games while drawing a walk eight times and hit by a pitch nine times to keep the streak alive
• It was a much less painful season debut compared to the start of 2024 when he was hit by a pitch in eight of his first nine plate appearances
WALK A MILE IN HIS SHOES
• Senior outfielder Tyler White took the phrase "take a walk" to a whole new level this past weekend
• In 21 plate appearances over the four-game series with the Dons, White drew a total of eight walks -- three in games one and four along with one each in the middle two games -- atop the Hornet lineup
• The eight walks total have him tied for second in the nation entering the week, trailing only conference mate Hunter Smith of Tarleton State, while his 2.00 walks per game rank tied for fourth in the NCAA
• As a team, Sacramento State ranked No. 12 in the country with 29 walks
WALKING = WINNING
• The Hornets took full advantage of some wildness by the San Francisco pitching staff in each of their wins in the series, drawing 11 walks in the opener and adding 10 more free passes in the finale
• Sacramento State's 11 walks in the opener were the most since the Hornets walked 11 times in a 14-8 loss to Nevada on May 7 of last year
• The 29 walks total rank No. 12 in the NCAA after the first weekend of play, trailing national leader VMI, which had 41 walks
THESE HORNETS DIG THE LONG BALL
• Opening weekend saw plenty of fireworks as the Hornets combined to slug seven home runs on the weekend, accounting for 14 of the team's 35 runs
• According to game-by-game records that date back to 1990, the seven home runs on the weekend are the most in the first four games of a season
ISN'T IT GRAND?
• Smith's bases-clearing grand slam as part of a five-run eighth inning at San Francisco on Monday was the first by a Hornet since Cameron Sewell's go-ahead slam at Seattle on April 14 of last year
• It was also the third of Smith's career to go along with his slams against Grand Canyon (March 18) and Stanford (April 18) of last season
• According to available records, Smith is one of only seven Hornets with multiple grand slams in a career and stands tied with Tim Wheeler for the most in a career
THAT'S OFFENSIVE
• Monday's 19-run outburst was the highest run total for Sacramento State since the Hornets put up 21 runs in a 21-9 victory over Nevada on March 19 of last season
• The 17 hits were also a season high and the most since they put up 18 hits at UT Arlington on May 3 of last year
• Monday marked the second straight game that Sacramento State put up double-digit hits following up the 13 hits at home in game three of series
• Eight of the nine starters in the Hornets' lineup on Monday finished with at least one hit, six batters finished with multiple hits, and 10 different hitters drove in at least one run on the day
BROWN DELIVERS
• Preseason All-American and Stopper of the Year candidate Kade Brown lived up to the billing in the first weekend of the season
• Brown was 2-for-2 in save chances on the weekend, throwing 5.1 innings of relief, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out eight against only one walk
• Opponents hit .111 against the right-hander, who set a career high with his eight strikeouts in 3.1 innings of work in the series finale
• The two saves gave him 10 for his career, tying him with Jeff Roth (2008-09) and Billy Sinacori (2004-07) for eighth on the school's all-time list
HELLO, MY NAME IS...
• 13 different student-athletes made their Sacramento State debuts on the weekend
• Newcomers Luis Pimentel-Guerrero and Jakob Poturnak started all four games, while Christian Perez and Michael Perazzo had three starts and played in all four
• Luke Oyler also earned his first start and made a pair of appearances while Jameseon Mullin was a pinch hitter in game three
• Five of those players all collected their first career hits, while Poturnak and Perez slugged their first career home runs -- including a two-home run performance by Poturnak in game two
• Poturnak also leads the team with six RBI
• On the mound, Ethan Lay made the start in Monday's finale, while Jackson Halverson, Dylan Torres, Chase Sorlie, Baylor Sandberg, Peter Caldera, and Carson Latimer all made their debuts in relief
TWO STEPPING
• Poturnak's two home run game against the Dons in game two of the series made him the first Hornet with a multi-home run game since JP Smith did so against Tarleton State in the team's WAC Tournament opener in 2024
TIME CALLED
• Three of the Hornets' four games went three hours or longer to start the season, including the 30-run finale that took 3:45
• Last season, Sacramento State played a total of nine (out of 56) games that went three hours or longer
THE BROTHERS KLIGMAN
• Elie and Ari Kligman are the first brothers in over a decade to play for the Hornets in the same season -- the first since Nathan and Shea Lukes were on the same Sacramento State team in 2013
• The Kligman brothers are among a group of 11 confirmed brother duos to have played for the Hornets in the same season, with another seven possible brother combinations that are unconfirmed at this time
NEW-LOOK WAC
• This year's race for the Western Athletic Conference title will feature two fewer teams as Stephen F. Austin and UTRGV have left the league to join the Southland Conference
• That leaves nine teams in this year's WAC, with the top eight qualifying for the league tournament
THE BUZZ ON THE HORNETS
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen enters his 17th year with the program and his 15th as head coach
• Sacramento State finished the 2024 season with a 26-31 overall record and a 14-16 mark in the WAC
• Last year's record snapped a run of 11 consecutive 30-win seasons for the program dating back to 2012
• There will be a lot of new faces in new places for Sacramento State in 2024 as the Hornets welcome back 18 letter winners and a trio of redshirts while adding 18 newcomers -- including eight transfers
• Nine pitchers return from last season's staff, including weekend starters in senior right-handers Evan Gibbons (6-5, 3.89 ERA) and Tyler Stewart (4-4, 3.75 ERA)
• Of those 18 newcomers, eight of those are pitchers
• Of the eight transfers, two hail from the Division I ranks, one from a Division II program, while five come from junior college programs
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
• Sacramento State was picked to finish fifth in this year's iteration of the WAC standings according to a vote of the league's head coaches
• The Hornets received 36 points overall to stand two points ahead of sixth-place Utah Valley and three points back of fourth-place Tarleton State in a tightly bunched middle of the pack
• Grand Canyon received eight of the nine first-place votes and 64 points overall to stand atop the poll, followed by Abilene Christian (one first-place vote) with 54 points and California Baptist with 46 points
DUO PICKS UP PRESEASON WAC HONORS
• Junior infielder JP Smith and sophomore pitcher Kade Brown were among a group of 12 student-athletes named to the preseason All-WAC team according to a vote of the league's head coaches
• Both were named to the team for the first time in their respective careers
• Smith and Brown's inclusion on this year's team gives the Hornets representation on the preseason squad for the third consecutive season (Jack Zalasky in 2023 and Cesar Valero in 2024)
• Sacramento State has had at least one player named to the preseason All-WAC team in 14 of their 20 seasons since rejoining the conference in 2006 (there were no preseason teams in 2013 and 2014)
• This year marks the first time that the Hornets have had multiple players named to the preseason team since outfielder Matt Smith and pitcher Scott Randall accomplished the feat prior to the 2020 season
• The Hornets have had multiple preseason All-WAC selections seven times (2008, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2025) and a program-best five preseason All-WAC selections prior to the 2015 campaign: Nathan Lukes, Brennan Leitao, Sam Long, Sutter McLoughlin, and Scotty Burcham
EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICAN
• Adding to the awards on his mantel, Brown picked up a pair of preseason honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association
• Brown was named to the organization's preseason All-America second team and one of 77 players named to the initial Stopper of the Year watch list
• He is the first Hornet to earn preseason All-America honors since pitcher Brennan Leitao was named to Collegiate Baseball's preseason honor roll (3rd Team) in 2015
• Brown was the only player on the 77-man roster from the Western Athletic Conference and one of only seven selected from West Coast schools
• Since 2013, four Sacramento State players have been named to preseason All-America lists by various organizations: Brown, Leitao, Rhys Hoskins (2014 - Baseball American 3rd Team), and Sutter McLoughlin (2013 - NCBWA 3rd Team)
• He becomes the sixth Hornet since 2005 to be named to either the preseason or midseason watch list for the Stopper of the Year award, joiningMcLoughlin (2013-15), Tyler Beardsley (2016), Austin Roberts (2019), Stone Churby (2021), and Jack Zalasky (2023)
LOCAL FLAVOR
• This year's Hornet roster will have a definite local flair, featuring 12 student-athletes from Sacramento and the surrounding areas
• JP Smith (Granite Bay HS), Brett Ott (Granite Bay HS), Ryan Christiansen (Rio Americano HS), Elijah Rogalski (Rio Americano HS), and Jackson Halverson (McClatchy HS), all hail from Sacramento
• Sean Carey (Folsom HS) is from Folsom
• Ethan Lay (Colusa HS) is from Colusa
• Peter Caldera (Granite Bay HS) is from Granite Bay
• Evan Gibbons (Franklin HS), Noah Lucchesi (Laguna Creek HS), and Kade Brown (Elk Grove HS) hail from Elk Grove
• Luke Oyler (Whitney HS) is from Rocklin
STATE OF THE HORNETS
• Sacramento State's 2024 roster will represent seven different states entering the season: California (23 players), Nevada (5), Arizona (3), Oregon (2), Idaho (1), Texas (1), and Washington (1)
• The seven states match the 2017 roster and are one shy of most states represented in the program's Division I history, which was set in 2024
• Sophomore Cameron Sewell (Medford) and freshman Troy Osborne (Grants Pass), are the first Hornets from Oregon since Ty Fox (Central Point) in 2018
• Redshirt freshman Dylan Torres from El Paso, Texas, is the first player to hail from Texas since Ricky Martinez (Pflugerville, Texas) in 2017
• Bryce Stockton, originally from the Sacramento area before moving to Idaho during his freshman year of high school, is the first player from Idaho since Jason Haselhahn (Moscow, Idaho) in 1996
• All told, Sacramento State rosters have featured student-athletes from 17 different states in the program's Division I history: California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Hawai'i, Georgia, Alaska, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kansas, and Missouri
• Only once in the program's Division I history has the Hornet roster featured all Californians, that coming during the 2009 campaign
• This year's roster also features a pair of Canadians in junior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero (Burlington, Ontario) and junior Carson Latimer (Delta, British Columbia) as well as the program's first-ever player born and raised in the Philippines in Jakob Poturnak, who then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia
FEELS LIKE HOME
• The Hornets will be well-acquainted with John Smith Field in 2025 as they are scheduled to play 34 of their 56 (61 percent) contests this season within the friendly confines
• Starting with the team's opener on Valentine's Day, Sacramento State will play 13 of its first 16 – and 19 of its first 28 -- before the calendar turns to April
• The Hornets will not leave the state of California for a game until their second Western Athletic Conference series of the year at Tarleton State during the last weekend in March
• Sacramento State finished 13-18 at home last season -- its first losing season at home since the 2011 squad finished 9-19
