SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Coming off a series win in the first Western Athletic Conference weekend of the 2025 campaign, the Sacramento State baseball team takes a brief break from league play with a midweek game against long-time rival Fresno State on Tuesday (March 25) at 6 p.m. at John Smith Field.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Fresno State (10-13, 3-3 MWC) at Sacramento State (13-10, 2-1 WAC)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 25, 2025
TIME: 6 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+ | WAC International
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

WE'LL DO IT LIVE
• Tuesday's game will be streamed live on both the ESPN+ and WAC International platforms
• Live Stats will also be available for the contest
• Links to all of the above are available on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
• Fresno State enters the week with a 10-13 overall record and a 3-3 mark in Mountain West Conference play
• The Bulldogs opened conference play two weekends ago by taking 2-of-3 from Nevada, then defeated Cal State Bakersfield in a midweek contest before dropping a league series at UNLV last weekend
• Fresno State salvaged the series with the Rebels with an 8-7 win on Sunday after falling 9-0 in the opener and 4-1 in game two
• Seven of the team's 10 wins this year have come at home as the Bulldogs are just 3-8 on the road this year
• Sophomore utility Cam Schneider is one of three Fresno State regulars batting better than .300 on the year, hitting a team-best .349 with four doubles and six RBI
• Senior catcher Justin Stransky is batting .321 with a team-high six home runs and 18 RBI to go along with a team-high 19 runs scored, while senior outfielder Bobby Blandford is batting .301 with three home runs, seven doubles, and 19 RBI
• As a staff, the Bulldogs sport a 5.93 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP, striking out 192 over 198.2 innings
• Opponents are hitting .296 against Fresno State pitching this year

SERIES NOTES
• Another of the longest-running series in the program's recorded history, Tuesday marks the 181st meeting between the Hornets and Bulldogs according to available records
• Fresno State leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 139-40-1 count, including a 61-23 record in the Hornets' Division I history, following a 3-2 win earlier this year on March 11
• The 180 meetings ranks fourth in terms of all-time meetings among Sacramento State opponents behind UC Davis (238), Pacific (185), and Nevada (184)
• The first recorded meeting between the two programs came on March 11, 1950, in Sacramento with the Bulldogs posting a 13-6 win in the opening game of a doubleheader that day and the Hornets answering with a 7-3 win in the nightcap
• Although the location of some of the early games is unknown, Fresno State leads the all-time series in Sacramento, 62-22-1
• The two schools have split the last six meetings overall dating back to 2022, with four of those played in Fresno
• The Bulldogs have won four of the last six meetings in Sacramento following a 5-4 win on March 12 of last season
• The Hornets' last win at home in the series came on Feb. 21 of last season by an 8-6 score
• Sacramento State and Fresno State were conference rivals in the Western Athletic Conference from 1993-96 (8-16 overall) and, again, from 2006-12 (6-28 overall)

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State has faced all eight baseball playing members of the current Mountain West Conference lineup, posting a combined 210-355-4 record against those teams
• Following this week's meeting with Fresno State, the Hornets will have two more games remaining against Mountain West members: April 22 at Nevada, and May 6 at home against the Wolf Pack
• Last season, Sacramento State was 3-2 against Mountain West opponents, finishing 1-1 against Fresno State and taking 2-of-3 from Nevada
• The 184 meetings with the Wolf Pack are the most against a current Mountain West opponent in school history, just ahead of the 180 meetings with the Bulldogs
• Sacramento State has won seven of its last 12 meetings with Mountain West opponents, posting a 4-1 record against the league in 2023 along with its 3-2 record in 2024
• The 85 wins over Nevada are the most against any one Mountain West opponent in school history, followed by the 48 wins over San Jose State and the 40 victories against Fresno State

CONGRATS COACH
• With two victories over UT Arlington over the weekend, Sacramento State Head Coach Reggie Christiansen clinched career wins No. 200 and No. 201 in Western Athletic Conference play in his career
• The 201 victories are the most by any current WAC head coach, ahead of both Seattle U's Donny Harrel and UT Arlington's Mike Trepasso, who each have 141 wins during their tenure in the league -- 140 of Trepasso's coming as head coach at Hawai'i, which was a member of the conference during his tenure from 2002-12
• Coach Christiansen is 201-155 (.565) in 14 seasons in the WAC, winning league regular season titles in 2012 and 2014, as well as conference tournament crowns — and ensuing NCAA Tournament berths — in 2014, 2017, and 2019

MIDWEEK MADNESS
• Tuesday's game against Fresno State is the fourth midweek contest of the season for Sacramento State, which has posted a 1-2 record in its previous three
• The Hornets have been felled by Nevada by an 8-5 score on March 10 and the Bulldogs by a 3-2 count on March 11, but clinched their first midweek win with a 13-3 rout of Pacific on March 18
• The victory over the Tigers in its last midweek outing snapped a five-game losing streak in midweek contests for Sacramento State dating back to last season
• Of the team's last 16 midweek games, seven have been decided by two runs or fewer, with five of those seven decided by a single run
• The game against the Wolf Pack earlier this year was the latest midweek opener for the Hornets since facing Nevada on March 14, 2017, after opening that season with series against Washington State, Northern Kentucky, No. 11 Washington, and Penn State
• Last season, Sacramento State finished 5-8 in midweek games, posting wins over Fresno State, Nevada (twice), San Francisco, and No. 17 Oregon

LAST TIME OUT VS. FRESNO STATE
• Jacob Cortez finished with a pair of hits and the Hornets jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but single runs in the second, third, and seventh innings helped the host Bulldogs rally for a 3-2 win on March 11 in Fresno
• Jakob Poturnak and Michael Perazzo extended lengthy hitting streaks at the time with hits in the game as Poturnak's streak ran to 14 consecutive games, while Perazzo's moved to eight straight games
• Cortez drove in the game's first run with an RBI single to center and Perazzo tacked on another with a knock back up the middle before Fresno State rallied
• Carson Latimer earned his first start of the year, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out two over the first three innings
• Andrew Monson and Noah Lucchesi followed with three shutout innings in relief, striking out a combined four hitters, before the Bulldogs struck for the go-ahead score off Jackson Halverson in the seventh on a sacrifice fly

LOOKING AHEAD
• Following Tuesday's contest against Fresno State, the Hornets hit the road for the first time in WAC play this coming weekend, traveling to Stephenville, Texas, to take on Tarleton State in a three-game series on March 28-30
• The series with the Texans opens with a 4 p.m. PT first pitch on Friday, followed by a 1 p.m. PT start for game two on Saturday, and a 10 a.m. PT start on Sunday
• This weekend marks the first conference series of the season for Tarleton State
• It also marks the first games outside of the state of California for the Hornets in 2025

HORNET SHORT HOPS
• Sacramento State, which has won four of its last six, closes out a run of four straight at home with Tuesday's game against Fresno State
• At the end of Tuesday night's contest, the Hornets will have played 19 of their first 24 games within the friendly confines of John Smith Field
• The Hornets are one of four WAC schools to have played only five road games this year along with Abilene Christian (five of 24), California Baptist (five of 24), and Tarleton State (five of 24)
• Ending with Tuesday's game against Fresno State, each of Sacramento State's first 24 games will have been played within the state of California, with the Hornets having not traveled further than 152 one-way miles for a game this year (against the Bulldogs on March 11)
• Seven of the team's last 12 games have been decided by a single run as Sacramento State is 6-4 in one-run contests this year
• The Hornets' walk-off win in the bottom of the 11th in game two against UT Arlington marked the team's fourth such victory of the season: Ball State (Feb. 21), Pacific (March 9), and Saint Mary's (March 15)
• Despite needing only 2:48 to finish the game, the 11-inning contest against the Mavericks was Sacramento State's longest of the year and the third to go extra innings in 2025: South Dakota State (March 1) and Pacific (March 9) — both of which finished in 10 innings
• The 11-inning game was also the longest since the Hornets and Tarleton State went 14 innings in their series opener on April 26 of last season
• The three extra-inning games this season are the most since Sacramento State played four in 2023, finishing 2-2 in those contests
• Game two's 1-0 victory marked Sacramento State's third shutout of the season — the most since the 2023 campaign when the Hornets blanked St. Thomas (Feb. 25), Fresno State (March 15), and Seattle U (April 21)
• The two wins over the weekend improved Sacramento State to 11-7 at home this season, just two wins shy of its home total from all of 2024 (13-18) and nine back of the 2023 season when the Hornets finished 20-11 at John Smith Field
• Sacramento State has outscored opponents 43-16 in the first two innings, with the 28 second-inning runs the most of any inning this season (the 24 runs in the fourth standing second)
• Freshman Michael Perazzo has given himself up more than all but two players in the NCAA this week, tying for the national lead with nine sacrifice hits this year along with Cal State Fullerton's Cam Burdick and NC State's Matt Heavner
• Perazzo's next sacrifice will get him into the program's single-season top-10 list, while four more ties him with Dane Fujinaka (2014), Blake Crosby (2008), and Bob Stevens (1975) for the single-season record
• Six more sacrifices this year will tie him with Fujinaka and Kyle Moses (2012-15) for 10th on the career list
• Senior Tyler White finished a home run short of a cycle in the series opener against UT Arlington — the fourth near-miss of a cycle by a Hornet this season
• Poturnak (Ball State on Feb. 22), Ryan Christiansen (South Dakota State on Feb. 28), and Luis Pimental-Guerrero (Nevada on March 10), all needed triples in their respective cycle bids.
• White also provided the game-winning hit in the 11th-inning walk-off in game two against the Mavericks to become the fourth different player to walk it off for the Hornets this year: Christiansen vs. Ball State (Feb. 21), Poturnak vs. Pacific (March 9), and Pimentel-Guerrero vs. Saint Mary's (March 15)
• With the single, White notched his third game-winning RBI of the season (and the fifth of his Hornet career), joining Poturnak (two), Elie Kligman (two), and Christiansen (two), with multiple game-winning RBIs this year
• Sophomore Cameron Sewell led the Hornets' offense in a 3-1 week, hitting .412 (7-for 17) with three runs scored, a double, two home runs, and seven RBI
• Sewell finished with multiple hits in three of the four contests, including the two home run performance against Pacific on March 18
• The Hornet pitching staff has walked only 70 batters in 208 innings entering this week's games, ranking No. 4 in the NCAA — and leading the WAC — with 3.03 walks allowed per nine innings (Arkansas leads the nation at 2.78)
• Sophomore closer Kade Brown made it 6-for-6 in save opportunities this season by getting the final five outs against UT Arlington in the opener, striking out a pair
• Brown's six saves are tied for fourth in the NCAA, trailing national leader Lucas Mahlstedt of Clemson, who has eight in 10 appearances this year
• Brown posted either a win or a save in each of his first seven appearances this season before holding the Mavericks down over 3.0 innings of work in the Hornets' eventual 1-0 extra-inning win in game two of the series
• Brown owns the longest active streak by a Hornet pitcher without an earned run allowed at 14.2 innings following his two appearances last weekend, allowing just one unearned score over his last seven games
• Right-handers Evan Gibbons and Ethan Lay each posted "quality starts" against UT Arlington over the weekend, each allowing three runs over 6.0 and 6.2 innings of work, respectively
• Right-hander Tyler Stewart also pitched well in his start in game two, pitching four shutout innings, allowing just two hits and striking out four before giving way to the trio of Carson Latimer, Brown, and Andrew Monson to complete the six-hit shutout
• Junior right-hander Colin Hunter opened the Hornets' week with a stellar start in the win over Pacific, allowing just one run on five hits and striking out three over six innings while holding the Tigers to a .217 average