SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The third weekend of the regular season pits the Sacramento State baseball team against a "Power 4" opponent for the first time in 2026, taking on Bay Area rival California in a three-game home-and-home series beginning Friday (Feb. 27).

Games one and three in the series will be played at Stu Gordon Stadium in Berkeley, Calif., with scheduled starts of 6 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday and Sunday (March 1), respectively. The Hornets host game two on Saturday (Feb. 28) at 2 p.m. at John Smith Field.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-5, 0-0 WAC) vs. California (5-3, 0-0 ACC)
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 27-March 1, 2026
TIME: 6 PM PT (Fri.) / 2 PM PT (Sat.) / 1 PM PT (Sun.)
WHERE: Berkeley, Calif. (Fri. & Sun.) and Sacramento, Calif. (Sat.)
STADIUM: Stu Gordon Stadium & John Smith Field

FOLLOW:
Game 1: ACC Network+  | Live Stats
Game 2: WAC International | Live Stats
Game 3: ACC Network+ | Live Stats
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | California | Western Athletic Conference

PROBABLE STARTERS
Game 1: RHP Oliver de la Torre (0-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. RHP Ethan Lay (2 GS, 0-0, 1.32 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Ethan Foley (1-0, 4.50 ERA) vs. RHP Kurt Marton (2 GS, 1-0, 1.42 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Gavin Eddy (1-0, 1.00 ERA) vs. RHP Carson Timothy (2 GS, 0-0, 2.57 ERA)

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• All three of this weekend's games will be streamed live
• The two games in Berkeley will be shown on the ACC Network+ platform, while Saturday's game in Sacramento will be streamed exclusively on the WAC International network
• Links to the live streams, in addition to live stats, are available on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
• California enters the weekend with a 5-3 overall record after handing UC Davis a 7-2 defeat on Wednesday (Feb. 25)
• The game against the Aggies was supposed to be the second of back-to-back games against UC Davis, but Tuesday's game was canceled due to weather concerns
• The Golden Bears have won their last three straight, preceding the win over the Aggies by taking the final two of a three-game series against UC Irvine last weekend on the road
• California dropped the opener with the Anteaters, 5-3, before posting wins of 11-2 and 4-2 in games two and three
• The Golden Bears are 2-1 at home this year after taking 2-of-3 from Santa Clara during opening weekend, falling in the opener, 13-2, before winning a pair of one-run games (5-4 and 4-3)
• Junior catcher Hideki Prather leads Cal with a .375 average and a 1.163 OPS, slugging five doubles and two home runs to go with eight runs and eight RBI
• Graduate infielder Daniel Murillo (.353) and senior infielder Cade Campbell (.344) are also hitting better than .300 on the year, combining for five doubles, two triples, 10 runs scored, and nine RBI
• Sophomore RHP Gavin Eddy is 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA in two Sunday starts for the Golden Bears, striking out a team-high 13 without a walk in 9.0 combined innings while allowing just one run
• Friday starter, junior RHP Otto de la Torre (0-2, 3.38 ERA), and Saturday starter, senior RHP Ethan Foley (1-0, 4.50 ERA), round out the weekend rotation through the first two weeks for Cal

SERIES NOTABLES
• The series between Sacramento State and California dates back to 1957 with the Golden Bears holding a 47-16 lead in the all-time series and a 25-10 advantage in the Hornets' Division I era
• California has won the last four straight meetings dating back to 2019, including a 6-5 win in Sacramento State last year on April 1
• This weekend marks a first for the two programs as the Hornets and Golden Bears have NEVER played a weekend series in the history of the two schools
• In fact, the two schools have only played twice in a single season 11 times -- the last in 2019
• Sacramento State's last win in the series came at home on March 26, 2019, with a 6-0 shutout
• The last two meetings have been decided by two-or-fewer runs
• The Hornets are 11-16 at home and just 5-30 on the road against California

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 34-85 against the current ACC baseball alignment, but all but four of those results are against either California (16-46) and Stanford (18-37) during their time in the Pac-12
• Outside of the Golden Bears and Cardinal, 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 a 2-0 loss to Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., in 2015
• Last season, following Sacramento State's 6-5 loss to California, the Hornets were edged out by the Cardinal, 2-1, on April 28 at Sunken Diamond

"SERIES"-OUS BUSINESS
• After taking 3-of-4 in its four-game series with Saint Joseph's last weekend, Sacramento State improved to 7-3 in its last 10 weekend series dating back to the second weekend of WAC play in 2025
• In addition to the Hawks, the Hornets have also posted series wins over Utah Valley, Grand Canyon, UC Riverside, California Baptist, Seattle U, and Abilene Christian
• The series win over Saint Joseph's also snapped a two-series skid after the Hornets lost 2-of-3 to Utah Tech to close out the 2025 regular season and were swept by UC Irvine to start 2026

MILLENNIAL MILESTONE
• The Sacramento State baseball program enters the 2026 season needing just 14 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

TIME AFTER TIME
• The 12 innings in game two of the series against Saint Joseph's marked Sacramento State's longest game (in terms of innings) since the Hornets played Tarleton State in a 14-inning marathon on April 26, 2024
• Meanwhile, the 3:43 time of game was Sacramento State's longest (in terms of time) since outlasting Seattle U for a 7-6 win in 11 innings in 3:45 at home -- which was also the last extra-inning game for the Hornets

"FIRE" STARTERS
• Sacramento State's weekend rotation of senior RHP Ethan Lay, junior RHP Kurt Marton, and sophomore RHP Carson Timothy have been nearly untouchable to start the season
• The Hornet trio has combined for a 1.49 ERA over 36.1 innings of work, allowing just six earned runs and striking out 44 hitters against only six walks
• Combined, opposing batters are hitting just .182 (22-for-122) against those three arms

EVERYTHING IS OH-"K"
• Lay enters this weekend's series as one of the nation's top strikeout artists as his 21 K's rank tied for second in the nation along with USC's Grant Govel and behind only Oregon State's Dax Whitney (23)
• The senior bolstered his total with 13 strikeouts -- without a walk -- while carrying a perfect game into the seventh inning in game two against Saint Joseph's, setting a new career high
• He became the 16th Hornet in school history to strikeout at least 13 batters in a game and the first since Travis Adams (who made his Major League debut with the Minnesota Twins last summer) finished with 13 at Northern Colorado in 2021
• That performance marked Lay's second double-digit strikeout game of his Sacramento State career after striking out 11 against Pacific on March 9 of last year
• He has also struck out eight-or-more batters in a game five times as a Hornet

WALK THE WALK
• The Hornets enter the weekend having walked only 22 hitters while striking out 85 through the first eight games, ranking No. 10 in the NCAA in fewest walks allowed per nine innings (2.65), No. 11 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.86), and No. 17 in WHIP (1.08)

KURT PUTTING THE HURT ON HITTERS
• In 12.2 innings over two starts, Marton has yet to walk a batter (yep, we probably just jinxed that), standing as one of 14 pitchers across in the country with at least 10 innings pitched to have not issued a free pass
• He shares the nation lead in both strikeout-to-walk ratio and fewest walks per nine innings with 48 other pitchers who meet the minimum
• Coupled with his 15 strikeouts (which rank tied for No. 56 in the NCAA), he stands second in the WAC in strikeouts, trailing only his teammate Lay

"WHIP" IT GOOD
• Five Sacramento State hurlers have a WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitch) under one: Baylor Sandberg (0.60), Lay (0.66), Ian Winterhalder (0.75), Jackson Halverson (0.75), and Marton (0.79)
• Four others -- Konner Entz, Ari Kligman, Chase Sorlie, and Carson Timothy -- have a WHIP of 1.00
• Among conference qualifiers, Lay (2nd), Winterhalder (4th), and Marton (7th) rank among the top 10, with Lay leading the pack at No. 53 in the nation

"QUALITY" YOU CAN COUNT ON
• With his 8.2 innings against Saint Joseph's, Lay posted the eighth "quality start" of his Hornet career after doing so a team-high seven times last season
• Marton, meanwhile, leads the team with two such starts in each of his first two appearances on the mound for Sacramento State, throwing six shutout innings against UC Irvine (2/14) and allowing just two runs over 6.2 innings with nine strikeouts against Saint Joseph's

STAND ON 21
• The Hornets' 21 runs scored in the series finale against Saint Joseph's were the most in a single game since a 21-9 victory over Nevada in 2024
• Those 21 runs came on 22 hits -- which were also a season high and the most since Sacramento State finished with 23 in a game-two victory at Grand Canyon on May 3 of last season
• Entering the week, the 21 runs and the 22 hits are the most by any WAC team in a game this year

GO TWO! GO TWO!
• Of those 22 hits, against the Hawks, eight of those went for doubles -- the most in a single-game for the Hornets since they had eight at Grand Canyon on May 8, 2022
• Of the team's 17 total doubles (which rank second in the WAC behind only California Baptist's 19 entering the week), junior Jakob Poturnak has five of them which puts him atop the conference leaderboard along with CBU's Bryce McFeely
• Six of Poturnak's eight hits on the year have gone for extra bases -- the most of any Hornet
• Freshman Sam Harry and his four doubles are close behind, tying him for third in the league

ERICK THE GREAT
• After a slow start to the 2026 campaign, junior outfielder Erick Dessens' bat has found a groove, posting multiple hits in three of his last five games -- including a pair of three-hit contests against Saint Joseph's in games one and four of the series
• Against Pacific on Wednesday night (Feb. 25), Dessens finished with two hits -- including his second home run of the year -- and drove in four of the team's seven runs
• The Scottsdale, Ariz., native leads the team with 10 hits, two home runs, and nine RBI, while standing second with six runs behind teammate Brett Ott (8)

SAFETY DANCE
• The trio of Luis Pimentel-Guerrero, Jakob Poturnak, and Sam Harry have reached base safely in all eight of the team's games thus far, while Brett Ott has done so in six straight contests
• Pimentel-Guerrero has hit safely in five of this eight, while drawing a team-high eight walks (tied for second in the WAC) to account for the other three games
• Harry has also hit safely in five of his first eight collegiate games, has walked four times, and hit by a pitch twice, while Poturnak has hits in four games while walking five times and hit twice

STRIKE FIRST! STRIKE HARD! NO MERCY, SIR!
• Sacramento State has gotten out of the gates quickly this year, outscoring opponents 20-4 in the first three innings of a game
• 12 of the team's 45 runs this year have come in the second inning alone
• The Hornets have scored first in all three of their wins this season