ED. NOTE: Due to technical difficulties in Long Beach, Friday's series opener against Long Beach State (Feb. 25) will NOT be streamed on the ESPN+ platform. Live stats are still available at the link below and the link on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com.

ON DECK...
The second series of the 2022 regular season sends the Hornets on the road this weekend as Sacramento State flies to Southern California to take on Long Beach State. The three-game series begins on Friday night (Feb. 25) at 6 p.m., with games two and three to follow at 3 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 26) and 1 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 27). Following the series, the Hornets will head to the Bay Area to take on California on Tuesday (March 1) for a 5 p.m. midweek start in Berkeley, Calif.

PLAY BALL...
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-0) at Long Beach State (2-1)
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 25-27, 2022
TIME: 6 p.m. / 3 p.m. / 1 p.m.
WHERE: Long Beach, Calif.
STADIUM: Bohl Diamond at Blair Field (3,238)
WATCH: Game 3 (ESPN+)
LIVE STATS: Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Long Beach State Baseball

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!...
For those fans unable to make the trip to Southern California this weekend, both Friday and Sunday's games will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform (subscription required). Live stats will also be available for all three games. Links for both will be available on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com.

IN THE RANKINGS...
Following a stunning series win on the road at then-No. 3 Mississippi State, Long Beach State jumped up 12 spots to No. 12 in the nation according to this week's D1Baseball.com poll, and debuted at No. 6 in the Baseball America rankings after not being ranked... Sacramento State is unranked to start the week.

SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE...
The Dirtbags enter the weekend with a 2-1 record, taking two-of-three from then-No. 3 Mississippi State last week in Starkville... Long Beach State won the opener, 3-0, and exploded for a 13-3 victory in game two, before dropping the finale, 12-4... Sophomore infielder Jonathon Long led the Dirtbags with a .545 average, six hits (including a pair of home runs), and four runs scored, while driving in five against the Bulldogs...  Friday night starter Luis Ramirez tossed six innings of no-hit baseball in the opener, striking out five, en route to the win.

AGAINST THE DIRTBAGS...
Long Beach State leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 27-5 count... The Dirtbags have won the last four straight in the all-time series, but the two programs haven't met on the diamond since both were members of the Big West Conference back in 2002... Long Beach State swept that series, 3-0, in Sacramento... The Hornets' last win in the series came on April 7, 2001, when Sacramento State posted a 4-0 shutout in Long Beach, Calif.

AGAINST THE BIG WEST...
Sacramento State has faced all 11 members of the current Big West Conference alignment, posting a 177-300 record against the conference in its history... The Hornets have posted 44 wins over Causeway rival UC Davis -- the most victories against any member of the league -- while winning 28 games against UC Santa Barbara, and 27 against Hawai'i.

LAST TIME OUT...
The Hornets opened their 2022 regular season with a bang at home, sweeping a four-game series from Northern Illinois at John Smith Field, including a pair of seven-inning shutouts in the middle two games to sweep a Saturday doubleheader. Sacramento State hit a robust .322 as a team with 14 extra base hits, while out-hitting the Huskies, 37-25.

ALL HE DOES IS WIN, WIN, WIN...
No matter what. Head Coach Reggie Christiansen's next victory will be the 450th of his career when you include his totals for one season at his alma mater, Menlo College, and four years at South Dakota State. Christiasen's 342 wins at the helm of the Hornets are just 16 behind Cal Boyes (358 in 17 seasons in 1957 and 1960-75) for second on the school's all-time list behind John Smith and his 882 career victories in 32 seasons (1979-2010) as head coach.

START ME UP...
The 4-0 start by Sacramento State is the best start for the program since the 1991 squad opened with four straight victories -- two against UC Davis and one each against Chico State and UC Santa Barbara. A win in Friday's opener at Long Beach State would five the Hornets their first 5-0 start since 1990, when they downed Chico State (twice), Cal State East Bay (twice), and Stanford.

RUN HORNETS, RUN!...
The 11 runs scored against Northern Illinois in the season opener were the most by the Hornets' offense since putting up 20 in a 20-5 victory over UTRGV in game one of a doubleheader back on May 21 of last season. It was also the most runs in a season-opener since Sacramento State downed Loyola Marymount, 12-7, on Feb. 22, 2008.

COLIN THE "NO-NO" HUNTER...
Crikey! Freshman Colin Hunter made his first collegiate start a memorable one to open last week's doubleheader with Northern Illinois, facing the minimum through the first four innings and struck out nine in the seven-inning contest to become only the second pitcher in the program's Division I history to throw a no-hitter along with Justin Dillon, who accomplished the feat against Northern Kentucky over nine innings nearly five years earlier to the day on Feb. 24, 2017.

BACHO GOES BATTY...
Senior catcher Dawsen Bacho had himself quite the opening weekend, hitting a team-best .692 (9-for-13) in the four-game series with Northern Illinois, with three doubles, six runs scored and four RBI. The Novato, Calif., native and two-time All-Western Athletic Conference selection posted multiple hits and drove in at least one run in three of the four games against the Huskies, including tying his career high with four hits (to go with three runs scored) in the series opener.

HE'S THE (SECOND) BEST AROUND...
Bacho's opening weekend .692 showing at the plate was tied for the second-best average among players with more than one appearance in the nation during opening weekend, trailing only Southern University's Hunter Tabb, who finished 7-for-10 (.700) while helping the Jaguars to a 2-1 record at the Andre Dawson Classic in New Orleans, La., last week. Bacho was tied with Wake Forest's Pierce Bennett, who was also 9-for-13 in the Demon Deacons' 4-0 start.

PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF...
Sophomore Jorge Bojorquez's 2021 season ended on a sour note with an injury, but his 2022 campaign is off to a sweet start, collecting hits in each of the team's first four games --including a pair of doubles in game two -- and extending his hitting streak to five when you count his 3-for-5 effort in his last game after being hit in the jaw by a pitch a day earlier last season against New Mexico State. The Nogales, Ariz., native was hitting .330 with a .429 OBP and .510 slugging before missing the rest of the year.

WALK-OFF WALKER...
Junior Josh Walker sent all the Hornets fans home happy in the nightcap of last week's doubleheader against Northern Illinois, slamming the first pitch he saw from Huskies' starter Kyle Seebach over the wall in right with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, scoring Martin Vincelli-Simard ahead of him and sending Sacramento State home with the 2-0 win. It was Walker's first career home run and the third by a Hornet on the weekend, joining Steven Moretto and Cesar Valero, who slugged round-trippers in the season opener.

FIRST!...
Freshmen Jeffery Heard and Colby Lunsford each recorded the first hits of their Division I careers last week against Northern Illinois, rapping out singles in games two and three, respectively, against the Huskies.

MORE FOR MORETTO...
Senior Steven Moretto's game one home run against Northern Illinois helped the Coquitlam, B.C., native move into a tie for fifth on the school's career list with 27, matching Vinny Esposito (2015-18) and Tim Wheeler (2007-09), while his four RBI on the weekend moved him into ninth on the all-time list ahead of Will Soto (2011-14) with 122. Moretto now trails Gabe Jacobo (2006-08) by two round-trippers for fourth, and is only one back of Andrew Ayers (2010-13) and six out of a spot in the top five on the RBI list.

- HornetSports.com -