SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State's run of nine consecutive games away from home continues with four contests this week, heading across I-80 to take on Nevada in a midweek contest on Tuesday (April 25) at 6:30 p.m., before heading to Las Cruces, N.M., this weekend for a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at New Mexico State beginning Friday (April 28) and running through Sunday (April 30).
PLAY BALL…
WHAT: Sacramento State (20-20) at Nevada (16-21)
WHEN: Tuesday, April 24, 2023
TIME: 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Reno, Nev.
STADIUM: Don Weir Field at Peccole Park
WATCH LIVE: Mountain West Network Live Stream
LIVE STATS: NevadaWolfPack.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State Weekly Release
WHAT: Sacramento State (20-20, 7-11 WAC) at New Mexico State (9-26, 7-14 WAC)
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, April 28-30, 2023
TIMES: 5 p.m. PT | 1 p.m. PT | 11 a.m. PT
WHERE: Las Cruces, N.M.
STADIUM: Presley Askew Field
WATCH LIVE: WAC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: NMStateSports.com - Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3
SCOUTING NEVADA…
The Wolf Pack enter the week with a 16-21 overall record and a 7-13 mark in Mountain West Conference play after dropping 2-of-3 to league rival San Diego State on the road over the weekend... Nevada is a combined 9-8 at home this season, last taking 2-of-3 from league rival Air Force two weekends ago... Catcher Matt Clayton leads the Wolf Pack offense, batting .329 on the year to go with team high's in home runs (7) and RBI (25)... The Wolf Pack pitching staff sports a 5.47 ERA over 38 games, striking out 334 on the year and holding opponents to a .286 average.
SERIES NOTES…
Nevada leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 96-82 count according to records that date back to 1954, including a 57-31 advantage in the series in the Hornets' Division I era... Sacramento State has won two of the last three meetings after posting a 9-4 win over the Wolf Pack at home back on March 2... Nevada leads the series 52-26 in games played in Reno, winning the last three meetings there dating back to a 7-5 Hornet win back on March 24, 2017... According to available records, Sacramento State won the first 16 meetings -- and 23 of the first 24 -- in the history of the series, marking the longest winning streak by either team... The two progams have been conference rivals twice: first as members of the Big West from 1997-00, then in the WAC from 2006-12.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO STATE…
The Aggies enter the week with a 9-26 overall record and a 7-14 mark in Western Athletic Conference play, having lost their last four straight... New Mexico State hosts Ottawa University of Arizona on Tuesday (April 25) before hosting Sacramento State over the weekend... Six of the team's nine wins have come at home... The Aggies are coming off an 0-4 week that saw them drop a midweek clash to in-state rival New Mexico, 13-0, in seven innings before being swept by conference foe Tarleton on the road... Outfielder Keith Jones II leads the offense with a .346 average to go with four home runs and 13 RBI, leading a group of four regulars batting better than .300 on the year... The NMSU pitching staff sports a 6.66 ERA over 32 games, striking out 274 while opponents are batting .316 against the staff as a whole.
SERIES NOTES…
Sacramento State leads the all-time series with New Mexico State by a 48-41 count -- all coming during the program's Division I era... The Hornets are 22-19 against the Aggies in Las Cruces after taking 2-of-3 during the regular season in 2022... NMSU won the last meeting with Sacramento State, eliminating the Hornets from last season's WAC tournament with a 7-3 victory... This year marks the second straight season that the two will meet in New Mexico and Sacramento State has won the series in each of its last two trips to Las Cruces.
A LOOK BACK…
The Hornets opened their run of nine straight away from home with a huge road win at No. 9 Stanford before winning the opener at SeattleU, finishing the week with a 2-2 record. Sacramento State jumped out to a 15-2 lead over the nationally ranked Cardinal, then hung on for a 15-13 win -- its second straight in the series with Stanford dating back to a 3-2 win in 2021. The Hornets' pitching staff then allowed only four hits (more on that in a minute) in a 6-0 victory over the conference rival Redhawks in the opener of a three-game series, before dropping the final two games of the series by the scores of 10-7 and 4-3.
HORNET SHORT HOPS...
• Sacramento State enters Tuesday's game at Nevada with a 7-2 record in midweek games this season following its upset of then-No. 9 Stanford on the road last week.
• The Hornets have won three of their last four midweek contests and 10 of 12 overall dating back to 2022.
• The road has been friendly in midweek contests as Sacramento State is 3-1 in road midweek games in 2023.
• Tuesday's game at Nevada marks the midpoint of the Hornets' season-long run of nine straight games away from home, with a three-game series at New Mexico State and a road midweek clash at Fresno State remaining.
• The nine straight road contests is the longest such run since the Hornets played 12 straight on the road from March 4-21, 2021.
• The Hornets also had a run of seven straight on the road earlier in the year during Spring Break, playing three-game conference series at Abilene Christian and Stephen F. Austin, with a midweek contest at Louisiana Tech in between the two series.
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen could reach a milestone this week as the Hornets' skipper stands just three wins shy of 500 for his coaching career. Christiansen has won 390 games in 12-plus seasons with the Hornets, 96 games in four seasons at South Dakota State, and 11 in one season at his alma mater, Menlo College.
• Eight of the Hornets' last 12 games have been decided by two runs or fewer, with another two decided by three runs.
• Following its 4-3 loss at SeattleU on Sunday, Sacramento State fell to 2-5 in one-run games this year, but is 7-4 in games decided by two runs.
• Sacramento State's four-run ninth in game two against SeattleU marked its 16th "big inning" (four-or-more runs) this season, and is 10-4 in games in which it has scored four-or-more runs in an inning.
• The Hornets rank fourth in the WAC with 135 extra-base hits and is second in the league with a .466 slugging percentage.
• Thanks to home runs by freshman Wehiwa Aloy, senior Martin Vincelli-Simard, and junior Jorge Bojorquez, the Hornets have now slugged 56 home runs this season in 40 games, surpassing last year's 58-game total (55) and posting the most in a single campaign since the 2009 squad finished with 63.
• The 56 home runs leads the WAC (California Baptist is second with 53) and is No. 57 in the NCAA entering the week.
• Of those 56 home runs, 30 of those have come in the last 15 games and 30 have been solo shots -- including five of the last six.
• Sacramento State has hit at least one home run in six of its last seven games, 30 of its 40 games overall, and multiple home runs in 13 games this season.
• The 56 home runs mark the third straight season that the Hornets have hit at least 50 in a year -- its longest such stretch since the 2001 (50), 2002 (60), and 2003 (57) seasons.
• Vincelli-Simard's first-inning blast in game two against the Redhawks was his ninth of the year (just one shy of tying his total from the last two seasons combined) and has accounted for a third of his 27 career home runs.
• The 27 career home runs moved Vincelli-Simard into a tie for sixth on the school's all-time list with Vinny Esposito (2015-18) and Tim Wheeler (2007-09), just two back of Gabe Jacobo (2006-08) for fifth.
• Vincelli-Simard's 128 RBI are tied with Rhys Hoskins (2012-14), Chris Kinsey (2001-03), and Terry Mayer (1970-73) for seventh on the all-time list and are just seven shy of Will Fitzpatrick (1990-93) for sixth.
• Vincelli-Simard leads the team with 37 RBI and has driven in at least one run in seven of his last nine contests, including multiple runs five times.
• He also has hits in seven of his last nine games, collecting multiple hits in six of those seven games with a hit.
• Vincelli-Simard has driven in multiple runs 13 times this season (five more than second-place Aloy) and has 36 for his career -- 16 more than second-place Jorge Bojorquez.
• Aloy's home run in the opener at SeattleU was his 10th of the year, moving him into a tie with Rhys Hoskins for the second-most by a freshman in a single season in school history. Justin Lamb holds the record with 11 home runs in 2009.
SINGLE-SEASON HOME RUNS AS A FRESHMAN (Division I only)
1. Justin Lamb, 2009 - 11
t2. Wehiwa Aloy, 2023 - 10
t2. Rhys Hoskins, 2012 - 10
t4. Steven Moretto, 2018 - 8
t4. JP Smith, 2023 - 8
t6. Martin Vincelli-Simard, 2019 - 7
t6. Vinny Esposito, 2015 - 7
t6. Chris Kinsey, 2001 - 7
t9. Brandon Hunley, 2014 - 6
t9. Tim Wheeler, 2007 - 6
t9. Bret LeVier, 2002 - 6
• Aloy is tied for fifth in the WAC with his 10 home runs, while Vincelli-Simard is tied for eighth, and JP Smith is tied for 10th, making Sacramento State one of two schools (Abilene Christian) to have three players among the top-10 home run hitters in the league.
• In addition to his home run hitting, Aloy legged-out his fourth triple of the year (ranked No. 24 in the nation entering the week) in the finale against SeattleU -- the most since Matt Smith finished with four in 2019.
• The triple was part of a 2-for-4 day for Aloy, who logged his 21st multi-hit game of the season -- the most since Matt Smith and Ryan Walstad finished with the same number in 2021.
• One more multi-hit game and Aloy will have the most such performances since Ian Dawkins collected 30 multi-hit games in 2018.
• Aloy has reached base safely in each of his last 15 games -- his second-longest such streak since opening his career with a 19-game run to start 2023.
• Aloy has hits in each of his last six games -- tied with JP Smith and Jacob Cortez for the longest active hitting streak by a Hornet.
• Cortez leads that trio with a .409 average during the last six games, Smith is batting .385 with nine RBI, while Aloy is batting .357 with 10 runs scored, five extra base hits, and a .643 slugging percentage.
• Bojorquez and Aloy have been a powerful 1-2 punch at the top of the Hornets' lineup, scoring 44 and 39 runs, respectively, to rank among the top 10 in the WAC entering the week -- one of three schools to have two players among the top 10 in the category.
• Sophomore utility Isaiah Parker logged his first hit of the year with a single in game two against SeattleU and his first as a Hornet since May 22, 2021, against UTRGV at the WAC Tournament.
• The Hornets staff was stingy with the extra bases in the series against SeattleU, walking only five Redhawk hitters while striking out 27.
• It was the fewest for the Sacramento State staff since it issued only four free passes in the rain-altered two-game set against St. Thomas and marked the third straight series that the Hornets have walked fewer than 10 hitters in a series (nine each against Utah Valley and UT Arlington).
• The five walks were the fewest in a three-game series since they walked only four at Long Beach State in a sweep of the then No. 6-ranked Beach in the second series of 2022.
• Junior right-hander Evan Gibbons threw his third consecutive "quality start" (at least six innings and fewer than three earned runs allowed) in a 6-0 shutout of SeattleU, picking up his first win since Feb. 19 and facing just four over the minimum.
• The seven innings pitched against the Redhawks tied Gibbons' career high, while his seven strikeouts in the win surpassed her previous high of four against Central Michigan back on March 10.
• Over his last three starts, Gibbons has allowed four runs on 14 hits, walking four and striking out 13 over 20 innings of work. He has an ERA of 1.80 in that span while holding opponents to a .206 average.
• Gibbons' outing was the sixth "quality start" by a Hornet pitcher this year and only the seventh time a Sacramento State pitcher has thrown at least six innings in a start this season: Noah Takacs (7.0 innings vs. St. Thomas), Gibbons (6.0 innings vs. Grand Canyon & Utah Valley and 7.0 innings vs. UT Arlington), Noah Lucchesi (6.1 innings vs. Stephen F. Austin), and Jasper Nelson (6.0 innings vs. Utah Valley).
• After throwing the final two innings of the shutout in the series opener, junior right-hander Cooper Rons got his first start as a Hornet in Sunday's finale, picking up the no decision after allowing a run on two hits and striking out five over four innings.
• Prior to that, Rons had gone 3-2 with a save in his previous 20 appearances and has a 1.93 ERA over his last seven appearances (14 innings) including that Sunday start.
• Rons' 21 appearances ranks No. 20 in the nation.
• The defense turned two more double plays at SeattleU over the weekend, giving the Hornets a league-high 38 -- a total that ranks No. 10 in the NCAA entering the week. Southern Illinois leads the nation with 45.
