SACRAMENTO -- With the regular season rapidly coming to a close, the Sacramento State baseball team heads down Highway 99 for one final midweek contest this week, traveling to Fresno State for a Tuesday meeting with the Bulldogs at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium. First pitch from the Central Valley is scheduled for 6 p.m.
PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Sacramento State (24-23) at Fresno State (24-24)
WHEN: Tuesday, May 10, 2022
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Fresno, Calif.
STADIUM: Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium (5,757)
WATCH: Mountain West Digital Network
LIVE STATS: GoBulldogs.com
SCHEDULE UPDATE…
The end of the regular season will look a little different after Sacramento State and San Jose State have agreed to adjust the final weekend series of the 2022 campaign, turning a four-game series into three. The Hornets will host the Spartans on Thursday (May 19) at 6 p.m. at John Smith Field as scheduled, but game two scheduled for Friday (May 20) will now be played in San Jose at 6 p.m., as will the finale on Saturday (May 21), now at 4 p.m. The game scheduled for Sunday (May 22) has been canceled.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS…
Fresno State enters the week with a 24-24 overall record and a 12-12 mark in Mountain West Conference play following a 2-2 week that saw the Bulldogs defeat Cal Poly in a midweek game before dropping 2-of-3 on the road at San Jose State in league play… Fresno State has won its last five midweek games beginning with its win at Sacramento State back on April 12, defeating Hawai'i, Long Beach State, and San Francisco, along with the Hornets and Mustangs in that stretch… The Bulldogs are 15-13 at home this season, having won four of their last six… Junior catcher Zach Morgan leads all regulars with a .376 average, while three players — junior outfielder Ivan Luna, junior infielder Andrew Kachel, and senior infielder Josh Lauck — have combined for 30 of the team's 54 home runs this year, all slugging 10 apiece.. Luna leads the trio with 48 RBI… Fresno State's pitching staff has combined for a 4.95 ERA and a .271 average against, striking out 444 batters in 427.2 innings, while walking only 155 on the year.
AGAINST FRESNO STATE…
The Bulldogs lead the all-time series with the Hornets by a 59-20 count according to records that date back to 1986, after Fresno State handed Sacramento State a 19-0 loss at John Smith Field back on April 12 in the two programs' first meeting since 2017… The Bulldogs have won the last three straight meetings and six of the last seven dating back to 2015… The Hornets' last win in the series came on April 27, 2016, by a 5-4 score in 11 innings in a contest played at Raley Field (now Sutter Health Park), but Sacramento State hasn't won in Fresno since a 6-4 victory back on Feb. 19, 2014, having lost its last three trips to Beiden Field.
AGAINST THE MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE…
Sacramento State is a combined 98-183 against the current Mountain West Conference alignment, with the majority of the games coming against Nevada (34-59), Fresno State (20-59), and San Jose State (25-38)… The Hornets are 0-2 against the Mountain West this season with losses to Fresno State and Nevada, and haven't won a game against a league member since a 4-3 win at home against the Wolf Pack on May 7, 2019.
LAST TIME OUT…
Sacramento State opened its trip to division-leading Grand Canyon with a big win on Friday as the Hornets downed the 'Lopes, 8-5, but GCU bounced back to take the series with a 7-4 victory on Saturday and a come-from-behind walk-off triumph in Sunday's finale, 11-10.
LOOKING AHEAD…
The Hornets close out Western Athletic Conference play at home this weekend, welcoming Utah Valley in to John Smith Field for a three-game series from May 13-15. The series opens with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday, followed by a 1 p.m. start on Saturday, and a Noon start for the finale on "Senior Day" Sunday.
HORNET SHORT HOPS…
• Sacramento State is 2-7 in midweek games this season, posting wins at Pacific (April 19) and Saint Mary's (April 26).
• Thanks to their win in the opener against the 'Lopes, the Hornets improved to 12-0 in series openers this season and has won its last 15 consecutive series openers dating back to least season.
• Sacramento State had six players with multiple hits — and three with at least three hits — in the series finale at Grand Canyon, marking the second time this season that at least three Hornets have finished with at least three hits (at Seattle U on March 19) and the first time that six batters have had multiple hits since they hosted the Redhawks on April 18, 2021.
• The 18 hits as a team in that game tied the season high against Houston Baptist on March 4 — the most for Sacramento State since it had 19 at California Baptist on March 29, 2019 — and marked the 19th time this year that the Hornets have collected double-digit hits.
• Eight (Jeffery Heard [2], Dawsen Bacho, Martin Vincelli-Simard [2], Josh Rolling, and Keith Torres [2]) of those 18 hits went for doubles against the 'Lopes — the most by a Hornet lineup since Sacramento State slugged nine two-baggers in a 21-7 win over Wyoming on Feb. 16, 1994 (Armondo Balderramos [2], Robert Perry, Kui Souza, Dan Vetter, Leigh Carruth, Mike White, Derek Brown, and Jason Kirtlan).
• The three triples in the final two games of the series against GCU gave the Hornets 10 on the year — the most since the 2019 squad finished with 15 and the 11th time since 2007 that Sacramento State has reached double digits in that category.
• With four hits in the opener and three more in the finale, Dawsen Bacho became the 15th player in the history of the program — and the second this season along with teammate Steven Moretto — to reach 200 career hits, entering this week with 201 to his name to stand just two back of Moretto in 13th on the all-time list.
• Bacho's four hits in the opener — which featured his second multi-homer game of the season — tied his career high for the second time this year following his four-hit game in the season-opener against Northern Illinois on Feb. 18.
• Sophomore right-hander Eli Saul posted his first career complete game in the series-opening win over Grand Canyon and the second by a Hornet pitcher this year, joining teammate Colin Hunter and his no-hitter against Northern Illinois on Feb. 19.
• Saul's complete game was the first of the nine-inning variety since Travis Adams went the distance at California Baptist in a 14-1 win on May 9 of last season.
• Saul finished with a career-high 121 pitches in his complete-game effort, marking the fourth time he has topped the 100-pitch mark this year and the most by a Hornet hurler since Austin Roberts finished with 124 against Grand Canyon on May 16, 2019.
• In the process, Saul improved to 6-0 on the year — the first Hornet pitcher to open a season with a 6-0 record since Ty Nichols finished 6-0 in 2015.
• With a win in his next start, Saul would become the first Hornet to start 7-0 since 1993 when Roland DeLaMaza won seven-in-a-row en route to an 11-2 mark that year.
• Moretto moved to within two games of Scott Burcham's (2012-15) all-time games played record with his 231st career appearance last weekend and stands four starts shy of Burcham's career mark.
• Moretto's two RBI gave him sole possession of second on the all-time list (14 shy of Matt Smith's all-time record), while Dawsen Bacho jumped into a tie for fourth on that list with 136.
• With his two doubles, Bacho also moved into ninth on the career list, while his two home runs in the opener put him in a tie for eighth with Rhys Hoskins (2012-14) with 25.
• Thanks to three hits in the opener and two more in game two, Jorge Bojorquez collected his team-high 14th and 15th multi-hit games of the year.
• Bojorquez enters the week on a team-best six-game hitting streak, batting .346 (9-for-26), with four runs scored, and four RBI, in that stretch.
• Sophomore Josh Rolling has reached base safely in each of his last eight games, hitting safely in five of those contests with seven runs scored and four RBI, while also drawing six walks and plunked by a pitch twice.
• Senior Dylan McPhillips has also been a constant on the basepaths as of late, reaching base safely in his last seven, with hits in four of those games, five runs scored, and five walks.
• Junior Martin Vincelli-Simard closed out the Grand Canyon series with three hits — including a pair of doubles — to tie his career high last matched at Tarleton on March 13 of last season.
• Junior Trevor Doyle also finished with three hits in the finale against the 'Lopes, matching his season high set at Dixie State on April 23.
