SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A quick turnaround for the Sacramento State baseball team this week as the Hornets return from their trip to Texas to host Bay Area rival California, welcoming the Golden Bears to John Smith Field on Tuesday night (April 1) at 6 p.m.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: California (15-12, 6-6 ACC) at Sacramento State (15-12, 3-3 WAC)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 1, 2025
TIME: 6 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+ | WAC International
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

GAME NOTES: California | Western Athletic Conference

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 GOLDEN BEARS
• California enters the week with a 15-12 overall record and a 6-6 mark in the ACC — its first year in the league
• After defeating San Francisco in a midweek contest, the Golden Bears lost 2-of-3 on the road to conference rival Louisville with a 14-10 win in game two in between losses of 11-10 and 13-6
• Tuesday's game against Sacramento State puts an end to a nine-game stretch of games on the road for California
• Beginning with a game at Saint Mary's on March 18, the Golden Bears are 6-2 during their nine-game roadtrip, improving to 8-5 away from home
• Junior infielder Cade Campbell leads the team with a .388 average and a 1.102 OPS to go with 23 runs scored, a team-high seven home runs, and 27 RBI
• Sophomore infielder Jared Advincula (.378) and sophomore utility Jacob French (.356) are also regulars batting better than .300 on the year
• As a staff, Cal pitchers sport a 5.04 ERA (compared to 7.21 for its opponents), striking out 229 over 235.2 innings and holding opponents to a .241 average

SERIES NOTES
• California leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 47-16, dating back to the first recorded meeting between the two programs in 1957
• This Tuesday's game marks the second straight year that the two have met in a midweek contest with the Golden Bears posting a 3-1 win over the Hornets in Berkeley on Feb. 27 of last year
• Cal has won the last three meetings in the series dating back to 2019 — all three of which have been played on the Golden Bears' home field
• Sacramento State's last win in the series — and last win at home — came on March 26, 2019, posting a 6-0 victory at John Smith Field
• Of their 16 victories in the series, 11 of those have come at home for the Hornets
• The two programs have met five times since 2018 but, prior to that, hadn't played a game against one another since 2010
• According to available records, despite being separated by only 68 miles, the two programs have never played a three-game series against one another

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 34-84 against the current ACC baseball alignment, but all but two of those results are against either California (16-47) and Stanford (18-35) during their time as members of the Pac-12
• The Hornets have faced only two other ACC schools: falling 4-3 against Georgia Tech at the Rainbow Easter Tournament in Honolulu in 1986, and falling 2-0 to Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in 2015

MIDWEEK MADNESS
• Tuesday's game against California is the fifth midweek contest of the season for Sacramento State, which has posted a 2-2 record in its previous four
• 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 and defeated the Bulldogs in a rematch, 4-3, at home on March 25
• Of the team's last 17 midweek games, eight have been decided by two runs or fewer, with six of those eight 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

LOOKING AHEAD
• Following Tuesday's home game against Cal, the Hornets make a return trip to take on WAC rival Abilene Christian in a three-game series on April 4-6
• The series with the Wildcats begins on Friday at 4 p.m. PT, followed by a 1 p.m. first pitch for game two on Saturday, and a 10 a.m. start for the finale on Sunday

HORNET SHORT HOPS
• Tuesday's home game against California will be the 20th of the year (in 28 total games) at John Smith Field and the only blip in the middle of a stretch that will see the Hornets play seven of eight on the road beginning with last weekend's series at Tarleton State
• Sacramento State is 12-7 at home this season — just one win shy of last season's total
• An 8-4 victory on Friday against Tarleton State improved the Hornets to 6-1 in series openers, during which they hit three home runs to tie a season high
• The performance matched the long ball output at San Francisco on Feb. 17, against South Dakota State on Feb. 27, and against Pacific on March 18
• It was also the team's eighth game with multiple home runs
• Junior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in game two against Tarleton State, setting a new career high as a Hornet and briefly gave him the team lead with his 11th multi-hit game
• The four hits are the most by a Sacramento State batter this season and the best day at the plate since Gunner Gouldsmith finished 5-for-5 against Stephen F. Austin on May 11 of last year
• Sacramento State's 12 runs in the series finale marked the team's fifth double-digit scoring performance of the year and the most since a 13-3 win at Pacific on March 18
• Helping the Hornets along to that 12-run performance were 13 walks and seven hit batters by the Texans, setting season highs in both categories for the Sacramento State offense
• The 13 walks were the most since the Hornets drew 13 against UT Rio Grande Valley on March 24, 2019
• The seven HBPs were the most since they were plunked eight times in the first game of a doubleheader against Loyola Marymount on Feb. 16 of last season
• Seven of Sacramento State's nine starters finished with at least one walk on the day, including freshman Orlando Cobarrubias, who drew four bases on balls on his own
• That total was the most by a Hornet hitter since Keith Torres was walked five times at Northern Colorado on May 5, 2019 — a total that is tied for second on the school's single-game list with Dick Olson's total at San Francisco in 1957, and trailing only Andy Braio's six free passes at UC Davis back in 1962
• Six different Sacramento State players were plunked by a pitch in the series finale, including twice for Tyler White, who drove in a run with his first of the day in the first inning
• With hits in each of the three games over the weekend, sophomore Cameron Sewell extended his team-best hitting streak to nine straight games, including five multi-hit contests in that stretch
• Sewell is batting .378 (14-for-37) with eight runs scored, a double, triple, and three home runs, while driving in 13 runs
• In the process, Sewell raised his average 52 points to .313 on the year
• Senior JP Smith tied his career high with three hits in the series finale against Tarleton State, including his team-high 10th double of the season
• Smith has doubled four times in his last five games and has seven doubles in his last 10 contests
• With his three hits in the finale, sophomore Jakob Poturnak collected his team-high sixth three-hit game of the season (Smith and Ryan Christiansen are tied for second with three apiece) and moved into a tie with Pimentel-Guerrero with his 11th multi-hit game of the year
• Pimentel-Guerrero has reached base safely in each of his last 10 games, hitting safely in eight of those 10 contests, while drawing a pair of walks and two hit by pitches in the other two to keep the streak alive
• Elie Kligman slugged his second home run of the year, walked twice, and was hit by a pitch in the series finale with the Texans, leading the junior to score a career-high four of the team's 12 runs on the day
• The four runs scored were the most since Jorge Bojorquez plated four runs against Seattle U on April 12 last season
• Sophomore right-hander Kade Brown notched his seventh save of the year in the opener against the Texans, putting him one shy of his freshman year total and giving him 15 for his career — one shy of Tanner Dalton (2018-19) and Michael Penbera (1999-01) for fourth on the all-time list