PREVIEW
• Sacramento State (12-8) will embark upon its most difficult two-day stretch of the season this Friday and Saturday when the team plays three games in Southern California.
• On Friday night, the Hornets play at sixth-ranked UCLA at 4 p.m., before heading to San Diego for a pair of games on Saturday. That includes a matchup at San Diego State (13-8) at noon, followed by another game vs. UCLA (in San Diego) at 2:30 p.m. San Diego State is currently receiving votes in all of the top 25 polls.
• Behind a potent offense that currently boasts a starting lineup that includes eight players hitting better than .300, the Hornets are coming off back-to-back mercy rule road victories. That includes a 10-2 win at UC Davis on Sunday, followed by a 14-3 victory at Saint Mary's on Tuesday.
• Friday's game at UCLA will stream on Big Ten Plus, while Saturday's game at San Diego State will stream on the Mountain West Network. There will be no stream for Saturday's game vs. UCLA.
• The Hornets are 4-2 on the road, and 3-2 at neutral sites. That includes four wins in their last five road contests.
• Friday begins a tough stretch of seven games that includes contests against UCLA, San Diego State, California and Oregon State. All of those games are away from home as the Hornets do not return to Shea Stadium until March 18.
• Sacramento State doesn't have to go far back to find its last win over a nationally ranked opponent - the Hornets won at ninth-ranked Stanford last season (March 13) by a 3-2 score. That was their first win over a top 10 program since knocking off No. 1 UCLA, 2-1, on Feb. 17, 2000.
• Despite a roster that includes 14 newcomers, Sacramento State's offense has gotten substantially better than a season ago when the Hornets finished with a 28-20 record. In fact, the Hornets' 28 home runs are already five more than all of last season (23), and the team's 35 doubles are just eight shy of last year's mark (43).
• The Hornets currently rank among the nation's top 40 teams in a number of offensive categories, including 20th in home runs (28), 21st in homers per game (1.40), 22nd in doubles per game (1.75), 24th in doubles (35), 27th in slugging percentage (.565), 33rd in stolen bases (34), 34th in RBIs (119), 37th in runs (131) and 39th in runs per game (6.55).
• Of the Hornets' 12 wins, seven have come via mercy rule, and the team has outhomered its opposition by a wide margin (28-6). That includes a team batting average (.322) that is 50 points higher than the opposition (.272).
• The Hornets have five players with current hitting streaks of at least four games: Madison Evers-Lyles (6), Lafulafu Malepeai (5), Shannon Garcia (5), Katie Marsh (4) and Nikki Barboza (4).
• Speaking of Evers-Lyles, the true freshman has five home runs in 27 at-bats, or one bomb every 5.4 at-bats. She is one of three Hornets with five home runs (Marsh, Barboza).
• First-year Hornets doing damage offensively are Evers-Lyles (.407 avg, 1,000 slg%), Alexa Carino (.389 avg, .667 slg%), Malepeai (.378 avg, .622 slg%) and Garcia (.326 avg, .558 slg%).
• Andrea Lira has nine RBIs over the last 4 games, including a grand slam Tuesday at Saint Mary's.
• Senior left-hander Caroline Evans is the ace of the Hornets' pitching staff. She is currently 4-2 with a 2.50 ERA and .237 opponents batting average. That includes 52 strikeouts in 47.2 innings.
• Kennedie Magorian (4-3, 3.84 ERA) has been the No. 2 starter on the staff, but Danyelle Leone (2-1, 3.82) and Alexa Ortiz (2-2, 4.04) have also garnered multiple starts in the circle.
• The Hornets have gotten off to big starts in a number of games this season, outscoring the opposition by a 48-20 margin in the first two innings. Nothing, however, compares to the fifth inning when Sacramento State has put up a whopping 43 runs.
• The Hornets have yet to win a game when scoring under four runs (0-6), have yet to lose a game when leading after four innings (9-0), and are 7-0 when connecting for at least two homers.
• Head coach Lori Perez, in her 12th season at the helm, is just 10 wins shy of career number 300.