SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Four games are on deck for the Sacramento State baseball team as the Hornets continue a seven-game homestand to open the 2026 campaign with a series against Saint Joseph's. The two teams open with a scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch on both  Thursday (Feb. 19) and Friday (Feb. 20), followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday (Feb. 21) and a Noon start for the finale on Sunday (Feb. 22) at John Smith Field.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Saint Joseph's (1-2, 0-0 A-10) at Sacramento State (0-3, 0-0 WAC)
WHEN: Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 19-22, 2026
TIME: 6 PM PT (Thurs. & Fri.) / 2 PM PT (Sat.) / Noon PT (Sun.)
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1: WAC International | Live Stats
Game 2: ESPN+ | WAC International | Live Stats
Game 3: WAC International | Live Stats
Game 4: ESPN+ | WAC International | Live Stats
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Saint Joseph's | Western Athletic Conference

PROBABLE STARTERS
Game 1: RHP Duke McCarron (0-0, 27.00 ERA) at RHP Chase Sorlie (1 GP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Christian Coppola (0-1, 0.00 ERA) at RHP Ethan Lay (1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 3: LHP Cole Fehrman (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at RHP Kurt Marton (1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 4: RHP Luke Parise (0-0, 2.25 ERA) at RHP Carson Timothy (1 GS, 0-0, 0.00 ERA)

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• All four games of this weekend's series will be streamed
• Games one and three against the Hawks will be shown live exclusively on the WAC International platform due to schedule conflicts with other on-campus events, while games two and four will be on both ESPN+ and WAC International
• Links to all broadcasts, as well as live stats, for all games this season will be posted on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com when they are available

ABOUT THE HAWKS
• Saint Joseph's dropped two of its three-game series at High Point on the road during opening weekend, falling by the scores of 15-7 and 3-0 in the first two games before bouncing back for a 6-1 win in the finale
• Those three games were the first of a stretch of seven-straight road contests to start the year for the Hawks, who face Rutgers in their home opener next week on Feb. 24
• Last season, Saint Joseph's finished 24-28 overall and 17-13 in the Atlantic 10 Conference, dropping games to Davidson and George Mason in the league tournament to end its season
• Sophomore outfielder/catcher Jason Janesko led the Hawks with a .364 average (4-for-11) in the series at High Point
• He was one of seven players with multiple hits on the weekend
• The Saint Joseph's offense slugged four home runs against the Panthers, one each from Janesko, Joey Pagano, Carson Applegate, and Ben Peterson
• Seven of the team's 22 hits went for extra bases on the weekend
• Senior left-hander Cole Fehrman (0-0, 0.00 ERA) struck out seven against four walks while allowing just two hits over 4.1 innings in his game two start against High Point
• Relievers RHP Christian Coppola (0-1, 0.00 ERA) and LHP Matt Fitzgibbon (1-0, 0.00 ERA) also struck out seven batters apiece in their weekend decisions

SERIES NOTABLES
• This week marks the first-ever meeting with Saint Joseph's on the diamond
• It is believed to be only the second time that the Hawks and Sacramento State have met in any sport after the Hornets' men's basketball team fell to Saint Joseph's, 74-69, in 2017
• Saint Joseph's is one of three first-time opponents for Sacramento State this season along with a mid-week game against UMass-Lowell (March 10) and a three-game series against Winthrop (March 19-21)

CONFERENCE CALL
• This week marks only the third meeting against a current member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, having faced Davidson and Rhode Island in seasons past
• The Hornets are 2-0 against Davidson, but haven't faced them since a pair of wins (4-0 and 4-3) at the Rainbow Easter Tournament hosted by Hawai'i in 1991
• Sacramento State has faced the Rams only once, posting a 31-3 victory at home back in 1997
• Those 31 runs stand as the school's single-game record, while the 34 combined runs in that game are tied for the fifth-most in a game

LET'S PLAY FOUR
• This week's series with Saint Joseph's marks the second straight season that the Hornets will play a four-game non-conference series after opening the 2025 campaign with four-game sets against San Francisco (home and home), Ball State, and South Dakota State
• Sacramento State split the series with both the Dons and the Cardinals last year, while taking 3-of-4 from the Jackrabbits
• Since 2011 (Head Coach Reggie Christiansen's first year), the Hornets have played 24 four-game non-conference series -- including a five-game series against Dartmouth in 2012 -- posting an 11-5 record in 16 of those and splitting the remaining eight
• Of the 24 series, 17 of those have been played at home with four series held on the road and three home-and-home series mixed in
• Sacramento State hasn't lost a four-game series since Central Michigan took three-of-four during the 2023 season
• The Hornets have swept a four-game series only four times: 2017 (Northern Kentucky), 2019 (Towson), 2020 (Milwaukee), and 2022 (Northern Illinois) -- all at home

FIRST THINGS FIRST
• In the field, Sam Harry, Erick Dessens, Jace Jeremiah, Ayden Hadley, and Ryan Ellis all made their Hornet debuts over the weekend against UC Irvine
• Harry tallied the first hit of his collegiate career with a double in the second game, while Dessens notched his first hit as a Hornet in game three with a single to right
• Hadley drove home his first run with a groundball in game three
• On the mound, Kurt Marton and Carson Timothy (more on them in a minute) made their first starts as Hornets, while Raul Valdivia, Devin James, Adam Enyart, and Trevor Wilson all made their first appearances in relief -- including the collegiate debuts for James and Wilson

"FIRE" STARTERS
• Sacramento State's weekend rotation of senior right-hander Ethan Lay, junior right-hander Kurt Marton, and sophomore right-hander Carson Timothy had themselves quite a weekend
• The trio combined for 14 innings, allowing just two unearned runs on four hits, walking three, and striking out 17
• They also stymied the opposing bats to the tune of an .083 average (4-for-48)
• Lay's eight strikeouts were the most of the three, posting his highest total since he struck out eight at Utah Valley on May 10 of last season
• It is the fourth time in his Hornet career that he has struck out at least eight batters, including a career-high 11 hitters against Pacific on March 9 of last year
• The eight strikeouts were also tied for the most by a WAC pitcher during the opening weekend, matching California Baptist's Alfredo Capacete and Utah Valley's Landon Zaborowski
• Marton's six strikeouts were the most since he had six in his second collegiate start against California Baptist while with UC Riverside on Feb. 25, 2024, and trailed only his nine K's against Pacific in his collegiate debut a week earlier
• Meanwhile, Timothy's three strikeouts in his debut were one more than he had in two appearances at UC Santa Barbara last season

"BIG" NEWS FOR 2026
• The 2026 campaign marks the 25th -- and final -- season as a baseball member of the Western Athletic Conference for the Hornets, who announced plans to move to the The Big West beginning prior to the 2026-27 school year
• It marks a return to The Big West for Sacramento State, which were affiliate members of the league from 1997-02, posting a 55-113 record in conference play in those six seasons
• As the No. 4 seed, the Hornets qualified for the 1998 Big West Tournament and reached the championship game against Long Beach State following elimination game wins over host Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara
• Sacramento State posted 15 Big West wins in 2000 -- its highest single-season conference win total as a member of the league
• Prior to that, the Hornets were members of the WAC from 1993-96 before rejoining the league in 2006 following three years of independence
• Sacramento State will be joined in The Big West by current WAC league-mates Utah Valley and California Baptist, which will join the Hornets as full-time members of the league 

NEW-LOOK WAC
• The roster for the final Western Athletic Conference baseball season has shrunk to seven schools with the departures of Grand Canyon (Mountain West) and Seattle U (West Coast Conference) to new leagues
• The top six schools will qualify for the league's double-elimination postseason tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., after eight of the nine advanced in 2025
• After the season, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, and UT Arlington will become members of the rebranded United Athletic Conference
• Utah Tech will join the Mountain West Conference for baseball

THE BUZZ ON THE HORNETS
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen, who picked up his third WAC Coach of the Year award in 2025 (2012, 2014, 2025), enters his 18th year with the program and his 16th as head coach, posting 458 of his 565 career victories while wearing the green and gold
• Sacramento State finished 2025 with a 32-26 overall record and 15-9 in WAC play, claiming a share of its third league regular season title and advancing to the conference tournament as the top seed
• The Hornets return 18 letter winners overall, five position starters, and nine pitchers off of last season's staff for the 2026 campaign
• However, nearly half of the roster is made up of new faces as 19 newcomers join the program for this year's run -- 15 of those transfers (seven Division I, one Division II, one NAIA, six junior college) to go along with four true freshmen
• Only one member of last year's weekend staff returns in the form of senior right-hander Ethan Lay (5-3, 3.55 ERA, 66 strikeouts, 76.0 innings)
• Of those 19 newcomers, 14 of those are pitchers

MILLENNIAL MILESTONE
• The Sacramento State baseball program enters the 2026 season needing just 17 more victories to reach 1,000 all-time wins in the program's Division I history
• Since it's first full Division I season in 1990, the Hornets have posted a 983-1,060-4 record

ONLY A MATTER OF "WIN"
• Thanks to its 32-win season in 2025, Sacramento State posted 30-or-more wins for the 12th time in the last 13 full seasons under Head Coach Reggie Christiansen
• The 32 victories were the most for Sacramento State since it finished 32-26 overall in 2022
• After finishing 15-9 in WAC play, last year's conference win total was the highest since the 2022 team finished 17-13 in an 11-team league
• Overall, the Hornets have now won 30-or-more 25 times in the program's history since 1949

BY THE NUMBERS
• At the plate, Sacramento State returns 54 percent of its runs scored, 59 percent of its hits, 61 percent of its home runs, 57 percent of its extra-base hits, and 59 percent of its RBI 
• On the mound, the returners on the pitching staff return 47 of last year's innings pitched and 43 percent of its strikeouts
• What does it all mean? We don't know, but numbers are fun.

ANYONE HOME?
• Of Sacramento State's 56-game schedule for 2026, the Hornets are scheduled to play only 26 of those contests at John Smith Field
• The 26 scheduled home games would be the fewest in a single season since the 2010 squad played the same number
• After opening with eight of their first 10 games within the friendly confines in the month of February, Sacramento State is scheduled to play only six times at home in March, traveling for 13 of its 19 scheduled dates
• The Hornets then have a near split in April with six of 11 at home, before playing six of 10 regular season contests in May at John Smith Field before their complement of WAC Tournament games in Mesa, Ariz.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
• A year after claiming a share of the league's regular season title, Sacramento State was picked to finish fourth in the WAC standings according to a vote of the league's head coaches released on Feb. 10
• The Hornets picked up two of the seven first-place votes and 22 points overall to stand behind Abilene Christian (33 points), Utah Valley (29), and California Baptist (27)
• Tarleton State in fifth (15), Utah Tech (11), and UT Arlington (10) round out the poll
• The Wildcats, who shared the regular season title with Sacramento State last year, picked up three first-place votes, while the Wolverines and Lancers earned one apiece

AWARD-WINNING DUO
• Sacramento State returns a pair of 2025 all-conference performers in utility man Luis Pimentel-Guerrero and infielder Jakob Poturnak
• Pimentel-Guerrero was a first-team selection after hitting a team-high .351 in 57 games (10th in the WAC), slugging 14 doubles, scoring 36 runs, and driving in 37, while also walking 23 times and hit by a pitch on 12 more occasions (.954 OPS)
• His .475 on-base percentage ranked third in the final WAC standings
• Poturnak was an all-league second team selection after leading the team with 13 home runs (tied for sixth in the WAC) and sharing team-high honors with 52 RBI (t8th in the WAC), batting .309 to go with 13 doubles and 36 runs scored
• A mainstay in the lineup, Poturnak was one of only three Hornets to appear in all 58 games in 2025, making 57 starts

NUMBER 9... NUMBER 9... NUMBER 9
• Sophomore Michael Perazzo excelled at the bottom of the Hornets' lineup in 2025, serving as a second lead-off hitter for Head Coach Reggie Christiansen
• The Redwood City, Calif., native hit ninth in 44 games for Sacramento State last season, batting .307 with 22 runs scored and 21 RBI
• For comparison, Perazzo has hit elsewhere in the lineup in 12 other games (seven at No. 8, three at No. 2, and two at No. 7), collecting a combined 10 hits (compared to 42 at the No. 9 spot), four walks, and seven RBI
• His 15 sacrifice hits last year were a program single-season record and already ranks him tied for ninth on the career list
• They also ranked No. 5 in the NCAA
• He was one of 11 true or redshirt freshmen on the initial watch list of 100 players from across the country for the 2025 Brooks Wallace Award, which honors the nation's top shortstop

IN "LAY"-MAN'S TERMS
• Senior right-hander Ethan Lay is the lone returning starter off of last season's weekend rotation, finishing 5-3 in 13 starts with a 3.55 ERA that ranked behind only closer Kade Brown's 2.93 ERA for the year
• His seven quality starts were tied with Evan Gibbons for the most on the staff, allowing three earned runs or fewer in 11 of his 13 starts
• He finished seventh in the WAC in ERA, 10th in strikeouts (66) and strikeouts looking (19), sixth in fewest walks allowed per game (1.89), and fifth in fewest runs allowed per game (4.14)

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES
• No Hornet pitcher saw more games on the mound than senior right-hander Andrew Monson, who appeared in a team-high 29 games -- which led the WAC a season ago
• Monson finished 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA and a pair of saves, striking out 28 in 33 innings while walking only 13 hitters

PITCHING AND DEFENSE
• The Sacramento State pitching staff racked up a combined 445 strikeouts and averaged 7.84 strikeouts per nine innings a season ago -- both ranking fifth on the school's single-season lists
• They were also very stingy when it came to free passes, walking only 189 batters (just outside of the top 10) while the 3.33 walks per nine ranked 10th on the single-season list
• The Hornets were No. 12 in the NCAA in fewest walks per nine innings (just behind conference mate UT Arlington in ninth at 3.29), No. 42 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.35), and No. 61 in ERA (4.93 which led the WAC)
• Sacramento State's defense was also adept at "turning two," ranking No. 9 in the NCAA with 52 double plays and No. 12 with 0.90 per game

THE SCHEDULE
• This year's non-conference schedule features five opponents that finished in the top 50 of the final 2025 RPI -- four of which ranked among the top 25 at season's end
• Seven of Sacramento State's opponents for 2026 were NCAA Tournament qualifiers -- UC Irvine, Fresno State, LSU, Kansas, Creighton, UCLA, and WAC rival Utah Valley
• The Bruins and Tigers were also College World Series participants with LSU taking home its eighth national championship
• Five of the Hornets' opponents either won or shared their respective conference titles: Creighton (Big East), Nevada (Mountain West), Abilene Christian (WAC), UC Irvine (Big West), and UCLA (Big Ten)
• Meanwhile, three conference tournament champions also dot the Sacramento State slate in Big East champion Creighton, Mountain West champion Fresno State, and WAC champion Utah Valley

TESTING TOP TALENT
• Along with the aforementioned gauntlet of a schedule, the Hornets will face off against some of the nation's top individual talents
• As the season gets underway, Sacramento State is scheduled to face six players who were recently named to the preseason Golden Spikes Watch List: UC Irvine pitcher Ricky Ojeda, UCLA infielders Roch Cholowsky and Mulivai Levu, LSU outfielder Derek Curiel and pitcher Casan Evans, and Kansas infielder Brady Ballinger

BENCH BOSSES
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen announced updates to his staff during the offseason
• The biggest addition is that of new pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Grant Kukuk, who returns to his alma mater (2015-16) following Division I stints at Utah Valley (2022-24) and Pacific (2025)
• He replaces Jon Wente, who was named head coach at Arizona Western College in August
• Long-time assistant coach, and former Hornet himself, David Flores, was elevated to Associate Head Coach for his 13th season on the bench
• One of the most successful coaches at the junior college level in California, Tony Bloomfield enters the 2026 campaign as the program's Director of Player Development
• Casey DeMello serves as the program's Director of Operations for his second season on staff
• Returning for his 11th season with the program, assistant coach Matt Smith enters his third year as a full-time assistant, helping develop the outfielders, working with the hitters, and coaching first base

ARMS RACE
• The Hornets' bullpen will be a busy place in 2026 as the team's 40-man roster features 25 pitchers
• Of the 25 pitchers, only one of them are left-handed: junior Sean Carey -- who is also one of only two southpaws on the entire roster along with sophomore outfielder Orlando Cobarrubias

STATE OF THE HORNETS
• Sacramento State's 2026 roster will represent nine different states, two Canadian provinces, and the nation of the Philippines
• Of the Hornets' 40 student-athletes, 22 of those hail from California, five are Arizona natives, and four more come from Nevada
• Also featured on the roster are student-athletes from Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, and Washington
• The nine represented states are the most in the program's Division I history, breaking the record of eight in 2024
• Junior Cameron Sewell (Medford) is the first Hornet from Oregon since Ty Fox (Central Point) in 2018
• Bryce Stockton, originally from the Sacramento area before moving to Idaho during his freshman year of high school, is the first player from Idaho since Jason Haselhahn (Moscow, Idaho) in 1996
• Freshman outfielder Sam Harry (Castle Rock, Colo.) and junior right-hander Konner Entz (West Fargo, N.D.) are the first-ever Hornets from those states in the program's Division I history
• All told, Sacramento State rosters have now featured student-athletes from 19 different states in the program's Division I history: California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Hawai'i, Georgia, Alaska, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and North Dakota
• Only once in the program's Division I history has the Hornet roster featured all Californians, that coming during the 2009 campaign
• This year's roster also features a pair of Canadians in junior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero (Burlington, Ontario) and junior Ayden Hadley (Langley, British Columbia) as well as the program's first-ever player born and raised in the Philippines in Jakob Poturnak, who moved to Vancouver, British Columbia

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
• A number of Hornets on this year's roster have family connections to Sacramento State
• Cameron Sewell's uncle attended Sac State
• Ari Kligman's brother, Elie was a catcher for the Hornets in 2024-25, and now plays at Michigan
• Kurt Marton's parents and his aunt all attended Sacramento State
• Carson Timothy's brother, Hunter, was on the roster for the Hornets in 2022 but did not appear in a game
• Jacob Kobrin's parents are both Sacramento State alumni
• Devin James' mother is a Sacramento State graduate while his cousin, Adaurie Dayak, played women's soccer for the Hornets from 2013-16
• Tyler Blankenship's Hornet roots go deep: his father, Robert, pitched at Sacramento State from 1987-89 and was drafted in the 21st round by the Cincinnati Reds, his uncle, Shawn, was an infielder for the Hornets in 1989 and 1991 and signed a free agent contract with Milwaukee, and his grandfather, Bill, was the pitching coach for the Hornets from 1990-92

LOCAL FLAVOR
• This year's Hornet roster will have a definite local flair, featuring 12 student-athletes from Sacramento and the surrounding areas
• Ryan Christiansen (Rio Americano HS), Elijah Rogalski (Rio Americano HS), and Jackson Halverson (McClatchy HS), all hail from Sacramento
• Brett Ott (Granite Bay HS) is from Rocklin
• Devin James (Bella Vista HS) is from Orangevale
• Sean Carey (Folsom HS) is from Folsom
• Ethan Lay (Colusa HS) is from Colusa
• Peter Caldera (Granite Bay HS) is from Granite Bay
• Carson Timothy (Pioneer HS) is from Woodland
• Kurt Marton (Oakmont HS), Tyler Blankenship (Woodcreek HS), and Trevor Wilson (Oakmont HS) are from Roseville