SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Winners of seven of its last 10, the Sacramento State baseball team returns to Western Athletic Conference play this weekend, hosting Abilene Christian for a three-game series at John Smith Field. It's a meeting between the two WAC regular season co-champions from 2025 as the Hornets and Wildcats shared the title with identical 15-9 records in league play.

Friday's (May 1) series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday (May 2) for game two, and a 10:30 a.m. first pitch on Sunday (May 3) for the finale. All three games will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: Abilene Christian (21-23, 4-5 WAC) at Sacramento State (21-25, 5-4 WAC)
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, May 1-3, 2026
TIME: 6 PM PT (Fri.) / 2 PM PT (Sat.) / 10:30 AM PT (Sun.)
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1:  ESPN+ (https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/c7f28962-fa2c-44b0-8312-9afb935d57b1) | WAC International (https://www.wacinternational.tv/?S=hornetsports) | Live Stats (https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631306)
Game 2:  ESPN+ (https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/40ee968f-fe05-4ced-b001-f3dd894d78d2) | WAC International (https://www.wacinternational.tv/?S=hornetsports) | Live Stats (https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631307)
Game 3:  ESPN+ (https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/8d2b3c9d-6e74-4b61-8b6a-417fdc09e3d9) | WAC International (https://www.wacinternational.tv/?S=hornetsports) | Live Stats (https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=631308)

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State (https://hornetsports.com/documents/2026/4/30/26-BSB-notes-ACUseries-050126.pdf) | Abilene  Christian (https://acusports.com/sports/baseball) | Western Athletic Conference (https://wacsports.com/sports/baseball?path=baseball)

PROBABLE STARTERS
Fri.: RHP Aidan Coleman (11 GS, 4-2, 5.83 ERA) at RHP Ethan Lay (11 GS, 4-1, 2.16 ERA)
Sat.: LHP Brett Lanman (11 GS, 1-5, 5.03 ERA) at RHP Kurt Marton (7 GS, 3-3, 4.46 ERA)
Sun.: RHP Evan Whiteaker (2 GS, 4-3, 5.21 ERA) at RHP Carson Timothy (11 GS, 3-4, 4.36 ERA)

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
• Abilene Christian enters the week with a 21-23 overall record and a 4-5 mark in Western Athletic Conference play
• The Wildcats are coming off a midweek loss at home against Dallas Baptist by a 16-4 score in eight innings on Tuesday, but took 2-of-3 from league rival UT Arlington, winning the last two
• ACU is 7-10 on the road this season, having lost four of its last six
• Grad infielder Zandt Payne, leads the team with a .335 average to go along with a 1.018 OPS, scoring 50 runs, slugging 10 home runs, and driving in 35
• Senior infielder Diego Cardenas leads the team with 18 home runs and 54 RBI, slugging .704 on the year and posting a 1.107 OPS
• As a team, the Wildcats are batting .278 with 74 home runs and averaging 7.11 runs per game
• As a staff, Abilene Christian sports a 6.68 ERA, striking out 345 batters over 378.1 innings while opponents are hitting .286

SERIES NOTABLES
• The series between Sacramento State and Abilene Christian is tied at five wins apiece dating back to the 2023 season
• The Hornets swept the regular season series from the Wildcats on the road last season, posting wins of 9-3, 13-4, and 14-4
• Prior to that ACU had won the first two regular season series from Sacramento State, taking 2-of-3 in both 2023 (in Abilene) and 2024 (in Sacramento)
• The Wildcats eliminated the Hornets from last year's WAC Tournament with a 7-0 win in an elimination game on day three
• This series has been very offensive as one team has scored 10-or-more runs in five of the 10 meetings: three by Sacramento State and two by Abilene Christian

THE BEST OF THE BEST OF THE BEST
• With its victory over No. 1 UCLA, Sacramento State has added to its resume of big wins in 2026
• Entering the week, the Hornets own wins over conference leaders (as of April 28) in the A-10 (Saint Joseph's), Mountain West (Nevada), Big South (Winthrop), Big 12 (Kansas), and Big East (Creighton) as well as the Big Ten leaders in the Bruins
• On top of that, Sacramento State also went into Baton Rouge, La., and took 2-of-3 from defending national champion LSU
• Sacramento State is 11-9 in those 20 games

HORNETS VS. THE TOP 25
• Facing its first No. 1-ranked opponent in nearly two decades, the Hornets' win over top-ranked UCLA in the series finale on April 26 marked the program's first victory over a No. 1 team
• The last time Sacramento State faced a No. 1-ranked team was a three-game series against Arizona on Feb. 29-March 2, 2008
• The Bruins were the second top-five opponent for Sacramento State this year after it took 2-of-3 from defending national champion LSU in early March
• Following the weekend, the Hornets are now 23-39 against nationally ranked opponents under Head Coach Reggie Christiansen dating back to 2011
• Sacramento State has won at least one game against a nationally ranked opponent in 12 of the 15 full seasons under Christiansen (excluding the 2020 pandemic season), including four wins over top 25 opponents in 2014
• The series win over the Tigers marked the program's first since sweeping No. 6 Long Beach State in 2022

BRUIN BULLET POINTS
• The nine runs scored by the Hornets in the finale against UCLA were the most surrendered by the Bruins this season and the most since a 9-5 loss to LSU in last year's College World Series
• Sunday's win was only the second weekend loss of the year for UCLA and the first since an 8-7 defeat against UC San Diego on Feb. 15
• The Hornet pitchers limited the Bruins to just 17 runs on the weekend -- the second-fewest in a weekend series for UCLA this year behind only the 15 runs against Minnesota the weekend prior

KEEPING IT 1,000
• With its win in the series opener at UT Arlington last week, Sacramento State reached 1,000 all-time Division I victories in the program's history
• Since it's first full Division I season in 1990, the Hornets have posted a 1,003-1,063-4 record

"SERIES"-OUS BUSINESS
• Sacramento State has won its last two WAC series after taking 2-of-3 from both Utah Valley and UT Arlington and are 2-1 in league series after dropping 2-of-3 to Utah Tech to start conference play
• Overall, the Hornets are 4-7 in weekend series

CALIFORNIA DREAMING
• Sacramento State's trip to Reno on Tuesday night (April 28) marked the team's final trip outside of the state of California to close the regular season
• After this weekend's home series with Abilene Christian, the Hornets have a midweek road game at UC Davis and a trip to Southern California to take on California Baptist, then come home to host Tarleton State in the regular season finale
• The WAC Tournament begins on May 20 at Hohokam Park in Mesa, Ariz.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO
• Senior RHP Ethan Lay was named as one of 43 semifinalists from across the country for this year's College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year Award on Wednesday (April 22)
• Lay and teammate junior RHP Kurt Marton were two or more than 140 Division I pitchers named to the initial watch list back on March 11
• This week, Lay earned his second Western Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week award -- and the third of his career -- following his performance in the series opener at UT Arlington
• He won his first award of the season back on March 23 following eight shutout innings vs. Winthrop
• Junior outfielder Erick Dessens was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week for the first time in his career on April 6 following a red-hot weekend at Utah Tech in the Hornets' WAC opening series
• It was the first award for a Sacramento State player since Tyler White was named the league's player of the week on March 3, 2025

MIDWEEK MADNESS
• Thanks to a 13-7 win at Nevada on Tuesday (April 28), Sacramento State improved to 7-5 in midweek games this season, winning its last three straight and four of its last five
• The seven midweek victories are the most since the 2023 squad finished 10-3 in such games
• Tuesday at Nevada marked the seventh midweek road game for the Hornets this season, improving to 4-3 in those games with one remaining (at UC Davis on May 5)

TEAM TIDBITS
• The 12 hits at Nevada on Tuesday were the most since the Hornets finished with 12 in a win at UC Davis in their last midweek game
• Sacramento State has now posted 10-or-more hits in 20 games this year and is 15-6 when out-hitting its opponents
• The Hornets have scored first in 20 of their 21 wins and are 10-3 when scoring in the first inning
• Sacramento State has played 11 one-run games this year and 19 decided by two runs or fewer
• The Hornets have started quickly, scoring 114 of its 284 runs (40.1 percent) in the first three innings this season, outscoring opponents by a 114-79 count
• 54 of those 284 runs this year have come in the second inning alone -- the most of than any inning 
• Sacramento State has posted a "big inning" (four or more runs) 22 times this season, finishing 13-5 in games in which they have done so
• With it's 11-1 win in seven innings in game two of the series at UT Arlington, Sacramento State improved to 4-4 in run-rule games this year
• Sacramento State is 17-5 this season when scoring six-or-more runs

EASY AS 1-2-3
• Junior Jakob Poturnak has homered in each of his last three games -- and four of his last seven -- after his three-run shot at Nevada on Tuesday
• He is the second Hornet to homer in three straight this season joining Erick Dessens who did it on March 14-17 earlier this year
• Since 1997, only one Sacramento State slugger has homered in four straight games: Jason Bolton on March 17-22, 1998
• Poturnak and Dessens become the fourth duo to accomplish the feat in the same season in that stretch, joining Steven Moretto and Martin Vincelli-Simard in 2021, Justin Lamb and Trevor Paine in 2010, and Jeff Roth and Tim Wheeler in 2009

HOMER HAPPY HORNETS
• With long balls by Poturnak and Jamie Mullin at Nevada on Tuesday, Sacramento State has now homered in each of its last five games -- the longest such streak this year
• It marked the seventh multi-home run game for the Hornets this season
• When Sacramento State hits a home run this season, it is definitely getting its money's worth as 23 of its 32 long balls have been multi-run home runs
• The Hornets have hit 11 two-run home runs, 10 three-run blasts, and two grand slams
• 21 of the team's 32 home runs have come in the first four innings and Sacramento State is 16-7 when leaving the yard and just 5-18 when it doesn't
• Both of the team's grand slams have come in the eighth inning or later
• This marks the ninth consecutive season (not counting the 2020 pandemic year) that the Hornets have hit at least one grand slam, and the seventh time that they have hit multiple grand slams in a single year
• Individually, Dessens' 10 home runs this season give the Hornets a double-digit home run hitter for the fifth consecutive year

APRIL FOOL
• The month of April has been very kind to Dessens at the plate as the junior is batting .471 with 19 runs, seven doubles, a triple, four home runs, and 24 RBI in 17 games
• He is slugging .779 and has posted a .514 on-base percentage in the last month, collecting 10 multi-hit games and five with three-or-more hits
• Dessens has hits in all but two of the 17 games and has driven in at least one run 11 times

WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
• In Tuesday's win over Nevada, Poturnak's three-run home run in the first proved to be his third game-winning RBI this season and the eighth of his career -- the most among active Hornets
• Of Poturnak's eight game-winning RBI, six of those have come via the home run
• Dessens leads the team with four game-winning RBI, followed by three each from Harry, Michael Perazzo, and Poturnak, two by Cameron Sewell, as well as one each by Nikhil Beasley, Ryan Ellis, and Luis Pimentel-Guerrero

WE'RE GOING STREAKING
• Senior Jace Jeremiah and junior Cameron Sewell enter the weekend each riding nearly identical (statistically speaking) 10-game hitting streaks -- the longest active streaks of any Hornet hitters
• Jeremiah is batting .351 (13-for-37) with seven runs scored and eight RBI, adding a pair of doubles and a home run
• Sewell is batting .363 (12-for-33) with seven runs scored and six RBI while adding three doubles
• Those two 10-game runs are the third and fourth double-digit hit streaks by a Hornet this year, joining Sam Harry's 13-game streak and a pair of 12-game runs by Dessens and Poturnak

SAFETY DANCE
• Along with the hitting streaks by Jeremiah and Sewell, Dessens enters the weekend having reached base safely in his last 10 games, while Sam Harry has done so in 11 consecutive contests
• Dessens has hit safely in nine of those 10 contests, drawing a walk in the other to keep the run alive, batting .474 (18-for-38) with six multi-hit games, scoring 14 runs and driving in 10 while clubbing seven doubles
• Harry has hit safely in nine of his 11 games with five multi-hit performances, batting .319 (15-for-47) with 13 runs scored and six RBI at the top of the order

BASE HITS IN BUNCHES
• With his three-hits at Nevada, Dessens logged his team-best 21st multi-hit game of the year and his sixth in the last nine
• It was also his 11th game with three-or-more hits
• All that has added up to 72 hits on the year, which ranks No. 6 in the NCAA, leads the WAC, and stands just 14 shy of breaking into the school's single-season top 10
• His 21 multi-hit games are five shy of breaking into that single-season top-10 list

CYCLE SEEKING
• Harry is the latest Hornet to narrowly miss out on hitting for the cycle this season, finishing a double shy as part of a 3-for-5 night at UC Davis on April 22
• He led-off that game with a homer -- the first Hornet to do so since Josh Rolling did so at Nevada on April 5, 2022 -- adding a triple in the fifth and a single in the ninth
• Other Sacramento State players to come close this year: Luis Pimentel-Guerrero (Feb. 22 vs. Saint Joseph's), Jakob Poturnak (March 11 vs. Pacific), Erick Dessens (March 14-15 vs. Pacific), and Brett Ott (March 16 vs. Pacific) -- all missing a triple

LEADING FROM THE TOP
• In 24 games at the top of the Hornet lineup, Harry is batting .324 with 25 runs scored, 11 extra-base hits, and 17 runs driven in 
• He is slugging .510 from that spot while reaching base at a .402 clip

WALK THIS WAY
• Senior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero enters the week ranked third in the WAC with 33 walks, having drawn at least one in each of the last three games and five of his last seven
• Having walked three times in a game twice against Saint Joseph's (2/20) and Winthrop (3/19), Pimentel-Guerrero has posted nine multiple walk games

IN "LAY"-MAN'S TERMS
• Senior RHP Ethan Lay continues to add to his resume following his latest outing against No. 1 UCLA, allowing three runs on seven hits over six innings and striking out six before leaving with the lead
• He stranded six Bruins and retired eight of nine at one point, surrendering only a single in that stretch
• The performance marked his eighth "quality start" of the season and the 15th out of 24 overall starts in his Hornet career
• Over his last seven starts, Lay is 4-0 with three no decisions and a 1.37 ERA, having allowed just seven earned runs over 46 innings of work, walking just seven and striking out 47
• Opponents are hitting just .219 (37-for-169) in those starts while Sacramento State has outscored the opposition, 49-21
• The start against the Bruins marked the first time that he walked more than one batter in a game (two) in 11 starts this year
• Of Lay's nine walks this season, five have come on full counts and two have been four-pitch walks
• He threw 123 pitches over his eight innings in the win over the Wolverines -- the most pitches by a Hornet starter since Austin Roberts threw 124 in a seven-inning no-decision against Grand Canyon on May 16, 2019

BIG WIN HUNTING
• There are probably not a lot of pitchers who can boast that they've beaten both the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked teams in the nation, but sophomore RHP Carson Timothy is now among that group
• Pitching on his birthday, Timothy held top-ranked UCLA to just three runs on six hits over five innings while striking out a season-high five as the Hornets led wire-to-wire
• That followed a start against the second-ranked Tigers on March 8 when he went 6.2 innings, allowing just one unearned on five hits and striking out four in a 6-1 victory

WHERE THERE'S A WILSON THERE'S A SAVE
• Along the same lines as his teammate Timothy, freshman RHP Trevor Wilson has also come through in some of the biggest games for the Hornets this year
• He earned his fourth save of the year in the win over No. 1 UCLA, throwing 2.1 shutout innings, scattering three hits and striking out two
• Of his four saves, three have come against the top two teams in the nation as Wilson also earned the save in games two and three against the No. 2 Tigers on March 7-8, allowing just one hit in three combined innings

MARTON MARCHING ON
• After making his five previous appearances in relief, junior RHP Kurt Marton has found a groove in the weekend rotation once again
• In his last two starts, Marton has thrown a combined 8.2 innings, allowing an earned run on three hits in both, while striking out four in each start
• That's good for a 2.08 ERA while holding opponents to a .194 (6-for-31) average

HUNTER STILL STINGY
• Although his scoreless innings streak (12.0 IP) came to an end in game two against No. 1 UCLA, senior RHP Colin Hunter has still been one of the Hornets top options out of the bullpen
• Over his last 14.1 innings (seven games), Hunter has allowed just two earned runs for a 1.26 ERA, striking out 13 against only four walks while holding opponents to a .176 (9-for-51) average

DEFENSE (CLAP, CLAP)
• Although it's not really a pitching stat, the defense has done it's job behind the hurlers as of late, having committed only two errors over the last 10-plus games (87.0 innings) and posting a .994 fielding percentage

HORNETS IN THE WAC (AS OF 4/28)
TEAM HITTING
• Sacramento State ranks second in sacrifices (26), fourth in triples (7), fourth in hits (410)

TEAM PITCHING
• Sacramento State ranks second in the league in ERA (4.68), innings (390.1), fewest hits allowed (385), fewest runs allowed (243), fewest walks (160), strikeouts (365), and batting average against (.254), while ranking fourth in saves (9)

INDIVIDUAL
• Dessens leads the league in hits (72), tied for the lead in RBI (54), tied for fifth in home runs (10), ranks sixth in slugging (.615), tied for sixth in doubles (14), seventh in average (.369), eighth in OPS (1.032)
• Ellis ranks fifth in on-base percentage (.469)
• Harry is tied for fifth in runs (42), tied for seventh in hits (59), tied for eighth in hit by pitches (10)
• Poturnak is tied for ninth in home runs (8)
• Pimentel-Guerrero is tied for second in sacrifice flies (4) and third in walks (33)
• Sewell is tied for fourth in hit by pitches (11)
• Perazzo is tied for sixth in sacrifices (5)
• Lay leads the league in innings (66.2) and fewest walks allowed (9), ranks second in ERA (2.16), opponent average (.227), strikeouts (72), is tied for third in fewest runs allowed (25), stands eighth in fewest hits allowed (58)
• Wilson is tied for fourth in saves (4)

HORNETS IN THE NCAA (AS OF 4/28... TOP 100 ONLY)
TEAM
• Ranks No. 34 in walks allowed per nine (3.69), No. 45 in WHIP (1.40), No. 48 in sacrifices (26), No. 55 in ERA (4.68) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.28), No. 76 in doubles (85), No. 78 in hits allowed per nine (8.88), No. 81 in fielding percentage (.975)

INDIVIDUAL
• Lay ranks No. 12 in strikeout-to-ratio (8.00), No. 14 in walks per nine (1.22), No. 21 in ERA (2.16), No. 22 in WHIP (1.01), No. 60 in strikeouts (72)
• Dessens ranks No. 6 in hits (72), No. 22 in hits per game (1.57), No. 26 in total bases (120), No. 27 in RBI (54), No. 62 in RBI per game (1.17), No. 96 in doubles (14), No. 97 in average (.369)