SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Coming off a road sweep of conference rival Abilene Christian, the Sacramento State baseball team stays local for its eight contests beginning Tuesday night (April 8) as the Hornets travel across the Causeway to take on UC Davis under the lights at 6 p.m.
PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Sacramento State (18-13, 6-3 WAC) at UC Davis (14-15, 4-8 Big West)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 8, 2025
TIME: 6 PM PT
WHERE: Davis, Calif.
STADIUM: Phil Swimley Field at Dobbins Stadium
WATCH LIVE: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UCDavisAggies.com
GAME NOTES: UC Davis | Western Athletic Conference
WE'LL DO IT LIVE
• Tuesday's game will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform
• 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 AGGIES
• UC Davis enters the week with a 14-15 overall record and a 4-8 mark in the Big West Conference
• The Aggies travel to Stanford on Monday (April 7) for a 6 p.m. first pitch before hosting Sacramento State on Tuesday
• After winning a midweek clash with Nevada (12-6) last Wednesday, UC Davis dropped 2-of-3 to conference rival UC Santa Barbara on the road, winning the opener, 1-0, before falling in the final two games by the scored of 5-0 and 8-2
• The Aggies are 9-6 on their home field this year, swept in a three-game series against Cal Poly following a 3-1 win over the Wolf Pack in their last homestand
• Junior P/OF Braydon Wooldridge leads the team in hitting with a .341 average — the only UC Davis regular hitting better than .300 on the year
• Wooldridge has slugged seven doubles, a pair of home runs, and driven in a team-high 18 runs this year
• The two home runs are tied for the team lead as UC Davis has slugged only 13 round-trippers in 2025
• As a staff, the Aggies have combined for a 4.29 ERA and a .274 average against, striking out 226 in 258.1 innings of work
SERIES NOTES
• Tuesday marks the 239th all-time meeting between Sacramento State and UC Davis on the diamond according to available records that date back to 1950
• Records show that the two programs have played at least once in every season since 1950 with the exception of three years from 2020-22
• Sacramento State leads the all-time series by a 144-93-1 count, including a 46-39 lead in the Hornets' Division I era
• UC Davis, however, has won the last three straight after sweeping a trio of midweek games last year: two in Sacramento (10-5 on March 5 and 3-2 on April 30) and one in Davis (3-2 on March 26)
• Sacramento State's last win in the series came on May 9, 2023, by a 7-5 score at home
• There is something riding on the regular season "series" between the two long-time rivals as the winner of the three-game "series" during the year earns the right to host two of the three games in the following season
• The Hornets won the "series" in 2023, taking the two games at home that year, before the Aggies' earned the sweep in 2024
• Sacramento State is 88-39 at home in the series, but only 55-49 when crossing the Causeway
• The Hornets have lost their last two trips to Davis, last winning an 8-2 decision on April 17, 2018
CONFERENCE CALL
• Tuesday's game marks the first against a Big West Conference opponent for the Hornets this season
• Along with the two other midweek games against the Aggies, Sacramento State will host a three-game non-conference series against UC Riverside on April 25-27
• The Hornets are a combined 296-382-3 (.437) against the current Big West baseball alignment
• Sacramento State has lost its last five games against Big West opponents, last posting a win against then-No. 22 UC Santa Barbara in the opener of a three-game series against the Gauchos on Feb. 23 of last year by a 6-2 score
• After the 144 wins against UC Davis, the Hornets have won 29 games against both UCSB and Hawai'i, and 26 more against CSUN
MIDWEEK MADNESS
• Tuesday's game against UC Davis is the sixth midweek game of the year for Sacramento State, which has posted a 2-3 record in its previous five
• Three of the team's five midweek contests have been decided by a single run: A 3-2 loss at Fresno State on March 11, a 4-3 win over the Bulldogs on March 25, and a 6-5 loss to California on April 1
• The other two midweek contests saw the Hornets fall to Nevada (8-5) on March 10 and defeat Pacific (13-3) on the road on March 18
• Of the team's last 18 midweek games, nine have been decided by two runs or fewer, with seven of those nine 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 game with the Aggies, the Hornets host a three-game Western Athletic Conference series against Seattle U after spending the last two weekends making trips to Texas for series against Tarleton State and Abilene Christian
• The series against the Redhawks begins on Friday (April 11) at 4 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. start for game two on Saturday, and a 1 p.m. first pitch for Sunday's series finale
HORNET SHORT HOPS
• After playing their last two WAC weekend series on the road, the Hornets will play their next three weekend sets within the friendly confines of John Smith Field
• Sacramento State will stay relatively local for its next 12 games thanks to those three weekend series, not traveling further than Reno for a midweek game against Nevada on April 22
• The Hornets are 12-8 at John Smith Field, just one win shy of last year's total
• Junior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero is the team's leading hitter in the five midweek contests thus far, batting .500 (8-for-16) with a pair of doubles, two home runs, four runs scored, and nine RBI
• Sophomore Jakob Poturnak is batting .429 in those same five games with a team-best nine hits, while sophomore Cameron Sewell has also slugged two home runs and has driven in seven while batting .353 (6-for-17) with six runs scored
• As a team, Sacramento State is batting .282 to a .322 mark for opponents, but has outscored the opposition by a 29-23 count
• The Hornets are coming off a three-game sweep of Abilene Christian over the weekend, outscoring the Wildcats by a 36-11 count while slugging 11 home runs and finishing with 19 extra-base hits overall
• Last weekend's sweep marked the first over a WAC opponent — and the first on the road — since taking all three at Seattle U on April 12-14 of last season
• Sacramento State's 36 runs for the weekend were the most in a three-game series this season and the most since the Hornets outscored Utah Tech by the same count (36-11) in the final regular season series of 2023
• Of those 36 runs, eight were scored in the ninth inning of the series finale — the most runs in a single frame this year for Sacramento State and the most since scoring eight in the first inning against Stephen F. Austin on May 12 of last season
• The Hornets eclipsed their single-game season high for home runs with four in the series opener against Abilene Christian, then set a new high bar with six (by six different players) in a 13-4 game two victory
• The six home runs were the most by a Sacramento State lineup since 2009 when the Hornets accomplished the feat twice that year: against Utah Valley on April 11 and, again, at Nevada on May 8
• Sacramento State's 14 runs in the series finale are tied for the second-most in a game this year, trailing only the 19 runs scored at San Francisco back on Feb. 17
• Of the 13 runs scored in game two, all but three came off home runs
• The Hornets have scored 10-or-more runs nine times this year, while producing double-digit hits 14 times — including four of their last five outings
• Sophomore Cameron Sewell extended his hitting streak to 13 consecutive games dating back to March 15 against Saint Mary's, collecting four hits on the weekend
• Sewell is batting .357 (20-for-56) during his streak, with seven multi-hit games, 12 runs scored, and 19 RBI, adding two doubles, a triple, and four of his six home runs
• Following the weekend, Pimentel-Guerrero has now reached base safely in his last 14 consecutive games — tied for the second-longest such streak by a Hornet this year and trailing only Portunak's run of 18 consecutive games earlier this year
• Freshman Michael Perazzo had himself a player of the week worthy performance last week, batting .529 (9-for-17) with six runs scored, three doubles, and the first two home runs of his career while also driving in six
• He finished the week slugging 1.059 and posting a .556 on-base percentage in the four games
• Perazzo finished with multiple hits in all four games — including a career-high three hits in the series finale at Abilene Christian — and now has multiple hits in each of his last five games when you include a 2-for-5 performance in the finale at Tarleton State on March 30
• In the finale against the Wildcats on Sunday, he finished a triple short of the cycle — the fifth time that a Hornet hitter has had a near-miss on a cycle this season
• Perazzo was one of three Hornets to slug their first career home runs over the weekend, joined by freshmen Jameson Mullin (a three-run shot in game one and a two-run home run in game two) and Nikhil Beasley (two-run shot in game two)
• Junior JP Smith finished with a career-high four hits in the series finale against Abilene Christian after accumulating 16 career three-hit games in his three years as a Hornet
• With Poturnak's 10th home run of the year in game two against ACU, Sacramento State has now had a player hit at least 10 home runs in each of the last four seasons
• Senior Evan Gibbons improved to 5-1 overall on the year and won his third consecutive start, throwing a career-high tying eight shutout innings (last: against California Baptist on April 5, 2024) while allowing six hits and striking out three in the series opener at ACU
• It was the fifth "quality start" in eight starts overall this year for Gibbons, giving him 18 in 39 career starts as a Hornet
• Junior RHP Carson Latimer picked up his first career Division I victory on the mound in game two against the Wildcats, throwing three innings of relief while allowing a pair of runs and striking out five
• Senior left-hander Noah Lucchesi picked up his first save of the year — and the second of his career — in game two of the series, pitching the final three innings and striking out a career-high seven batters
• Speaking of saves, preseason All-American and Stopper of the Year candidate sophomore Kade Brown earned his eighth save of the season — which ranks tied for fifth in the NCAA entering the week — by getting the final nine outs of the series finale, allowing one and striking out a pair
• The eight saves this year matches Brown's total from 2024 that ranks tied for 10th on the school's single-season list, while his 16 career saves are now tied for fourth on the school's all-time list with Tanner Dalton (2018-19) and Michael Penbera (1999-01)
