Sacramento State

A three-time All-Western Athletic Conference selection as a student-athlete with the Hornets, Matt Smith enters his 12th year overall with the program in 2026, playing four years in the green and gold before serving as a graduate assistant, volunteer assistant and, now, a third year full-time assistant coach with the Hornets.

Smith was a four-year letter winner for the Hornets' baseball team from from 2016-21 and continues to stand as one of the program's all-time greats, having set school records for career hits (276), at bats (858), and runs batted in (158). He entered the 2025 season ranked fifth on the all-time games played list (225), fourth in starts (218), tied for second in runs scored (142), tied for sixth in doubles (47), tied for fourth in triples (9), fourth in sacrifice flies (16), and tied for seventh in sacrifice hits (16).

He twice led the team in average in 2019 (.311) and 2021 (a career-high .393), while also leading the team in hits in both of those years (71 and 68, respectively). Smith's 43 runs scored in 2019 were also a team-high.

Following the 2019 and 2021 seasons, Smith was named to the All-WAC first team, while picking up second-team honors in 2018. He was also named to the WAC All-Tournament team in 2019 while helping the Hornets to their third conference tournament crown and NCAA Regional appearance.

In the classroom, he was also a four-time WAC All-Academic Team selection.