SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento State baseball team's run of eight straight at home continues this week, with the second half of the homestand beginning Tuesday (March 8) with its second midweek game of the year. The Hornets welcome Bay Area rival Saint Mary's to John Smith Field for a 4 p.m. first pitch.

PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Saint Mary's (11-1) at Sacramento State (8-4)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 8, 2022
TIME: 4 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field (1,200)
WATCH: ESPN+ (Subscription Required)
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com

ON THE MOUND...
Saint Mary's: RHP Jackson Hulett (0-0, 4.66 ERA, 4 APP, 2 GS, 9.2 IP, 9 K's, 5 BB)
Sacramento State: RHP Tyler Stewart (1-1, 4.66 ERA, 5 APP, 9.2 IP, 5 K's, 3 BB)

SCOUTING THE GAELS…
Saint Mary's is on a roll to start 2022, winning its first 11 games before suffering its first loss of the year in the series finale at UC Riverside last weekend… The Gaels are hitting .351 as a team and have outscored opponents by a 123-39 count, scoring double-digit runs six times… Four regulars are hitting above .400 on the year, led by Sophomore catcher/infielder Nathan Chong, who is batting .630 with a 2.044 OPS as 12 of his 17 hits have gone for extra bases… The Saint Mary's pitching staff sports a 2.69 ERA and has struck out 130 in 107 innings of work as a team... Tuesday's scheduled starter, Jackson Hulett, has made four appearances and started a pair of games, posting a 4.66 ERA over 9.2 innings without a decision... He has allowed six runs on 10 hits in that span, walking five and striking out nine, with opposing hitters batting .263 against him.

AGAINST SAINT MARY'S…
Sacramento State holds a 47-39-1 lead in the series with Saint Mary's according to records that date back to 1986… The two programs haven't met since the 2019 season, when the Gaels took a pair of midweek games by the scored of 10-1 and 6-3… The two losses snapped a six-game winning streak in the series for the Hornets… Sacramento State is 30-24-1 at home against Saint Mary's, having won three of the last four. 

AGAINST THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE…
Sacramento State has played the 10 current baseball-playing members of the West Coast Conference pretty even over the years, sporting a 164-168-1 record against the league since 1986… The 47 wins over Saint Mary's are the most against any one opponent for the Hornets, followed closely by the 46 wins against Pacific in that all-time series… Sacramento State has also posted double-digit wins against both San Francisco (33) and Santa Clara (21) in those respective series.

LAST TIME OUT…
Riding high following seven straight wins to open the season, the Hornets stumbled last week, falling at California in their first midweek game of the year by a 6-2 score before dropping the final three games of a four-game set against Houston Baptist at home. Sacramento State's lone win, however, was one for the record books, outscoring the Huskies in the series opener by a 21-4 count to end the game in seven innings via the run rule.

HORNET SHORT HOPS…
• Cesar Valero was named one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week for his game one performance against Houston Baptist and is one of four nominees for D1Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Performance of the Week honor.
• The Hornets' eight-game homestead is the longest since they hosted a pair of four-game conference series against New Mexico State and Seattle U in 2021.
• Sacramento State's 10-run fourth inning in the win over Houston Baptist last week were the most in a single inning since scoring 12 in the sixth as part of a 20-5 run over UT Rio Grande Valley on May 21 of 2021.
• Half (four doubles, two triples, three home runs) of the team's 18 hits in that win over the Huskies went for extra bases, the most since the team had nine (seven doubles and two home runs) in that same win over UTRGV.
• The 18 hits against Houston Baptist in the opener — the most since collecting 18 in the win over UTRGV — were a season high and marked the fourth time that the Hornets have collected 10-or-more hits in a game this year.
• Sacramento State's 21 runs were the most since out-gunning California Baptist in a 21-10 win on March 29, 2019.
• Cesar Valero's three home runs made him the fifth different Hornet to hit three home runs in a game in school history, and the first since Tim Wheeler on March 8, 2009 against Saint Mary's. Wheeler accomplished the feat twice in his career and is joined on that list by Gabe Jacobo (April 3, 2008, at Louisiana Tech), Jesse Schmidt (April 18, 2003, at Centenary), and Chris Kinsey (March 16, 2002, at Cal Poly). 
• Valero's 10 RBI broke the school single-game record held by Josh Payne, who drove in nine against Rhode Island as part of a 31-3 win on March 8, 1997.
• The 10 RBI are the most by any player in the nation in a single game as of March 7, 2022, while the three home runs in a single game make him one of five in the NCAA to accomplish that feat.
• Valero's five hits were one shy of Brandon Marshall's record of six against UC Davis on April 29, 1998, while his five runs scored were one back of Shawn McGuire's mark of six set against Rhode Island in 1997.
• The last time Sacramento State hit three home runs in a game as a TEAM was on May 9, 2021, at California Baptist, when the Hornets hit four: Ryan Walstad, Matt Smith, Dawsen Bacho, and Steven Moretto, in a 14-1 victory.
• Valero and Trevor Doyle also laced triples in the win, the first time that the Hornets have had two triples in a game since May 4, 2019, at Northern Colorado when Bacho and Dylan McPhillips legged them out in a 15-10 win over the Bears.
• Jorge Bojorquez's 12-game hitting streak came to an end in the series finale against Houston Baptist, marking the longest such streak by a Hornet since Matt Smith hit safely in 16 straight from April 17 to May 9 last year.
• Bojorquez, however, has reached safely in all 12 games this year (and 13 overall) following an eighth-inning walk on Sunday against Houston Baptist.
• Nick Iwasa has also found his way on base in all 10 of his appearances this year, finishing last week with six hits and six walks in five games for a .571 on base percentage.
• Sacramento State has hit 11 home runs in its first 12 games