SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the first time in school history, the Sacramento State men's golf team will compete at the Big West Championship beginning on Sunday, Apr. 27, at the La Quinta Country Club. The three-day tournament will have single rounds on each day.
 
The Hornets will play the first round with UC San Diego and UC Riverside beginning at 10:50 a.m. The final group of the threesomes will tee off at 11:30 a.m.
 
The Big West will be the third different conference championship the Hornets will play for during the school's Div. I men's golf era. Sacramento State previously competed at the Big Sky Conference Championship and the American Sky Conference Championship. The winner of this year's tournament will earn an automatic berth to an NCAA Regional.
 
The Hornet lineup will feature four of the five players from last year's team which won the Big Sky title and advanced to the NCAA Stanford Regional. Luke Dugger and Zach Mate have occupied the top two spots in the ladder for most of the year while freshman Max Thomas has also played in every tournament. The fourth and five positions will be occupied by Gabriel Smith and Jake Aberle who both played in the team's most recent tournament.
 
At last season's Big Sky Championship, Gabriel Smith tied for second and Luke Dugger finished eighth to help the team to a three-shot victory. Smith led the team with rounds of 69-71-72-212.
 
This season, Dugger has paced the team with a scoring average of 71.63. Dugger has three top-10 finishes and has recorded 17 rounds of par or better. Dugger's single-season average currently ranks third in school history.
 
Long Beach State is the top-ranked team in the field as the 49ers are 22^nd nationally. Sacramento State is fifth among the 12 teams in the conference coming in at 144^th.
 
The Field
Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Hawaii, Idaho, Long Beach State, Sacramento State, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara
 
The Lineup
1. Luke Dugger
2. Zach Mate
3. Max Thomas
4. Gabriel Smith
5. Jake Aberle
Alt. Zach Matzke