SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The 2026 college baseball season officially gets underway this weekend as Sacramento State and future conference rival UC Irvine open a three-game series at John Smith Field. The Hornets and Anteaters open the season on Friday (Feb. 13) at 6 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. start on Saturday (Feb. 14), and a Noon first pitch on Sunday (Feb. 15).

PLAY BALL!
WHAT: UC Irvine (0-0, 0-0 Big West) at Sacramento State (0-0, 0-0 WAC)
WHEN: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 13-15, 2026
TIME: 6 PM PT (Fri.) / 2 PM PT (Sat.) / Noon PT (Sun.)
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: John Smith Field
FOLLOW:
Game 1: ESPN+ | WAC International | Live Stats
Game 2: WAC International | Live Stats
Game 3: ESPN+ | WAC International | Live Stats
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | UC Irvine | Western Athletic Conference

PROBABLE STARTERS
Game 1: RHP Trevor Hansen (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at Ethan Lay (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2: LHP Ricky Ojeda (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at Kurt Marton (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Cade Castles (0-0, 0.00 ERA) at Carson Timothy (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!
• All three games of this weekend's series will be streamed
• Games one and three against the Anteaters will be shown live on both the ESPN+ and WAC International platforms, while game two will be available solely on WAC International due to schedule conflicts with other on-campus events
• Links to all broadcasts, as well as live stats, for all games this season will be posted on the baseball schedule page at HornetSports.com when they are available

ABOUT THE ANTEATERS
• UC Irvine opens the 2026 season after posting a 43-17 overall record and a 24-6 mark in Big West Conference play a year ago
• The Anteaters won the 2025 Big West regular season title, but were edged out for the league's tournament crown by second-seeded Cal Poly
• UCI made its second-straight -- and third in the last five seasons -- NCAA Regional appearance under Head Coach Ben Orloff, finishing 2-2 at UCLA with wins over Fresno State and Arizona State
• Having lost six of their top seven hitters from a season ago, junior infielder Frankie Carney is the team's leading returning hitter after batting .331 in 45 games, scoring 34 runs and driving in 22
• Junior right-hander Trevor Hansen (9-3, 3.30 ERA, 95 strikeouts, 95.1 innings) and junior left-hander Ryder Brooks (7-3, 5.09 ERA, 72 strikeouts, 69.0 innings) return from last season's weekend rotation
• All-American junior Ricky Ojeda, who became the first reliever in Big West history to be named the league's pitcher of the year in 2025 and is on the preseason Golden Spikes Award watch list for 2026, finished 13-1 with a 3.55 ERA last season, appearing in 25 of the team's wins and striking out 83 in 66 innings

SERIES NOTABLES
• UC Irvine leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 17-6 count, but the two haven't met since a three-game series in Southern California back in 2020
• The last six games (two series) have all been played in Orange County as the two haven't met in Sacramento since a three-game series in 2010
• In all, 15 of the 25 all-time meetings have been played on the Anteaters' home field
• Prior to the 2020 series, the two programs hadn't faced one another since 2011 when UCI swept a three-game series 
• The Hornets' ended the series in 2020 with an 8-0 victory in the finale, snapping a seven-game skid overall
• Sacramento State and UC Irvine were rivals in the Big West Conference for one season in 2002 when the Anteaters took 2-of-3 at home that year
• The Hornets haven't won a series with UCI since 1992, taking 2-of-3 in Irvine
• The weekend marks the seventh three-game series between the two, with the Anteaters winning six of them
• Sacramento State and UC Irvine have met in the postseason twice, with the Hornets posting a 5-3 victory at the 1970 NCAA Pacific Coast College Division II Regionals and the Anteaters winning, 14-3, at the 1974 NCAA Division II Regionals

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 303-382-3 (.443) against the current Big West alignment, having faced all 11 of the league's members
• The Hornets were 4-2 against a pair of Big West opponents in 2025, sweeping a three-game series from UC Riverside at home while finishing 1-2 against Causeway rival UC Davis
• This weekend's series against UC Irvine marks the third-straight season that Sacramento State will face a Big West opponent in a three-game series after last year's meeting with the Highlanders and a 2024 series at home against then-No. 22 UC Santa Barbara (the Gauchos took 2-of-3)
• It also marks the third straight year that the Hornets will HOST a three-game series against a Big West opponent, having not traveled since sweeping then-No. 6 Long Beach State in Southern California in 2022
• The 149 wins over UC Davis are the most against any current Big West opponent in a series that dates back to the inception of the program in 1949
• The Hornets also own 29 wins against both Hawai'i and UCSB as well as 26 against CSUN
• This weekend marks the third fourth time in the program's Division I history that Sacramento State will open a series against a Big West opponent: 2011 (UC Davis), 2012 (CSUN), and 2020 (UC Santa Barbara)

LID-LIFTERS
• According to available records dating back to 1949, Sacramento State is a combined 34-43 on opening day
• The Hornets have won five of their last six opening day games after edging San Francisco, 4-3, to kick-off the 2025 campaign
• Under Head Coach Reggie Christiansen, Sacramento State is a combined 8-8 on opening day since 2011
• The Hornets split last year's four-game season-opening series with the Dons, but hasn't won a series on opening weekend since taking 3-of-4 from North Dakota State in 2023 at home
• The Hornets open at home for the fourth consecutive season and the ninth time in the last 10 years, with the only hiccup in that stretch a three-game set at then-No. 15 Arizona State in 2021
• Sacramento State is 4-4-1 in those previous nine series

"BIG" NEWS FOR 2026
• The 2026 campaign marks the 25th -- and final -- season as a baseball member of the Western Athletic Conference for the Hornets, who announced plans to move to the The Big West beginning prior to the 2026-27 school year
• It marks a return to The Big West for Sacramento State, which were affiliate members of the league from 1997-02, posting a 55-113 record in conference play in those six seasons
• As the No. 4 seed, the Hornets qualified for the 1998 Big West Tournament and reached the championship game against Long Beach State following elimination game wins over host Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara
• Sacramento State posted 15 Big West wins in 2000 -- its highest single-season conference win total as a member of the league
• Prior to that, the Hornets were members of the WAC from 1993-96 before rejoining the league in 2006 following three years of independence
• Sacramento State will be joined in The Big West by current WAC league-mates Utah Valley and California Baptist, which will join the Hornets as full-time members of the league 

NEW-LOOK WAC
• The roster for the final Western Athletic Conference baseball season has shrunk to seven schools with the departures of Grand Canyon (Mountain West) and Seattle U (West Coast Conference) to new leagues
• The top six schools will qualify for the league's double-elimination postseason tournament at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., after eight of the nine advanced in 2025
• After the season, Abilene Christian, Tarleton State, and UT Arlington will become members of the rebranded United Athletic Conference
• Utah Tech will join the Mountain West Conference for baseball

THE BUZZ ON THE HORNETS
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen, who picked up his third WAC Coach of the Year award in 2025 (2012, 2014, 2025), enters his 18th year with the program and his 16th as head coach, posting 458 of his 565 career victories while wearing the green and gold
• Sacramento State finished 2025 with a 32-26 overall record and 15-9 in WAC play, claiming a share of its third league regular season title and advancing to the conference tournament as the top seed
• The Hornets return 18 letter winners overall, five position starters, and nine pitchers off of last season's staff for the 2026 campaign
• However, nearly half of the roster is made up of new faces as 19 newcomers join the program for this year's run -- 15 of those transfers (seven Division I, one Division II, one NAIA, six junior college) to go along with four true freshmen
• Only one member of last year's weekend staff returns in the form of senior right-hander Ethan Lay (5-3, 3.55 ERA, 66 strikeouts, 76.0 innings)
• Of those 19 newcomers, 14 of those are pitchers

MILLENNIAL MILESTONE
• The Sacramento State baseball program enters the 2026 season needing just 17 more victories to reach 1,000 all-time wins in the program's Division I history
• Since it's first full Division I season in 1990, the Hornets have posted a 983-1,060-4 record

ONLY A MATTER OF "WIN"
• Thanks to its 32-win season in 2025, Sacramento State posted 30-or-more wins for the 12th time in the last 13 full seasons under Head Coach Reggie Christiansen
• The 32 victories were the most for Sacramento State since it finished 32-26 overall in 2022
• After finishing 15-9 in WAC play, last year's conference win total was the highest since the 2022 team finished 17-13 in an 11-team league
• Overall, the Hornets have now won 30-or-more 25 times in the program's history since 1949

BY THE NUMBERS
• At the plate, Sacramento State returns 54 percent of its runs scored, 59 percent of its hits, 61 percent of its home runs, 57 percent of its extra-base hits, and 59 percent of its RBI 
• On the mound, the returners on the pitching staff return 47 of last year's innings pitched and 43 percent of its strikeouts
• What does it all mean? We don't know, but numbers are fun.

ANYONE HOME?
• Of Sacramento State's 56-game schedule for 2026, the Hornets are scheduled to play only 26 of those contests at John Smith Field
• The 26 scheduled home games would be the fewest in a single season since the 2010 squad played the same number
• After opening with eight of their first 10 games within the friendly confines in the month of February, Sacramento State is scheduled to play only six times at home in March, traveling for 13 of its 19 scheduled dates
• The Hornets then have a near split in April with six of 11 at home, before playing six of 10 regular season contests in May at John Smith Field before their complement of WAC Tournament games in Mesa, Ariz.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
• A year after claiming a share of the league's regular season title, Sacramento State was picked to finish fourth in the WAC standings according to a vote of the league's head coaches released on Feb. 10
• The Hornets picked up two of the seven first-place votes and 22 points overall to stand behind Abilene Christian (33 points), Utah Valley (29), and California Baptist (27)
• Tarleton State in fifth (15), Utah Tech (11), and UT Arlington (10) round out the poll
• The Wildcats, who shared the regular season title with Sacramento State last year, picked up three first-place votes, while the Wolverines and Lancers earned one apiece

AWARD-WINNING DUO
• Sacramento State returns a pair of 2025 all-conference performers in utility man Luis Pimentel-Guerrero and infielder Jakob Poturnak
• Pimentel-Guerrero was a first-team selection after hitting a team-high .351 in 57 games (10th in the WAC), slugging 14 doubles, scoring 36 runs, and driving in 37, while also walking 23 times and hit by a pitch on 12 more occasions (.954 OPS)
• His .475 on-base percentage ranked third in the final WAC standings
• Poturnak was an all-league second team selection after leading the team with 13 home runs (tied for sixth in the WAC) and sharing team-high honors with 52 RBI (t8th in the WAC), batting .309 to go with 13 doubles and 36 runs scored
• A mainstay in the lineup, Poturnak was one of only three Hornets to appear in all 58 games in 2025, making 57 starts

NUMBER 9... NUMBER 9... NUMBER 9
• Sophomore Michael Perazzo excelled at the bottom of the Hornets' lineup in 2025, serving as a second lead-off hitter for Head Coach Reggie Christiansen
• The Redwood City, Calif., native hit ninth in 44 games for Sacramento State last season, batting .307 with 22 runs scored and 21 RBI
• For comparison, Perazzo has hit elsewhere in the lineup in 12 other games (seven at No. 8, three at No. 2, and two at No. 7), collecting a combined 10 hits (compared to 42 at the No. 9 spot), four walks, and seven RBI
• His 15 sacrifice hits last year were a program single-season record and already ranks him tied for ninth on the career list
• They also ranked No. 5 in the NCAA
• He was one of 11 true or redshirt freshmen on the initial watch list of 100 players from across the country for the 2025 Brooks Wallace Award, which honors the nation's top shortstop

IN "LAY"-MAN'S TERMS
• Senior right-hander Ethan Lay is the lone returning starter off of last season's weekend rotation, finishing 5-3 in 13 starts with a 3.55 ERA that ranked behind only closer Kade Brown's 2.93 ERA for the year
• His seven quality starts were tied with Evan Gibbons for the most on the staff, allowing three earned runs or fewer in 11 of his 13 starts
• He finished seventh in the WAC in ERA, 10th in strikeouts (66) and strikeouts looking (19), sixth in fewest walks allowed per game (1.89), and fifth in fewest runs allowed per game (4.14)

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES
• No Hornet pitcher saw more games on the mound than senior right-hander Andrew Monson, who appeared in a team-high 29 games -- which led the WAC a season ago
• Monson finished 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA and a pair of saves, striking out 28 in 33 innings while walking only 13 hitters

PITCHING AND DEFENSE
• The Sacramento State pitching staff racked up a combined 445 strikeouts and averaged 7.84 strikeouts per nine innings a season ago -- both ranking fifth on the school's single-season lists
• They were also very stingy when it came to free passes, walking only 189 batters (just outside of the top 10) while the 3.33 walks per nine ranked 10th on the single-season list
• The Hornets were No. 12 in the NCAA in fewest walks per nine innings (just behind conference mate UT Arlington in ninth at 3.29), while standing No. 42 in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.35), and No. 61 in ERA (4.93 which led the WAC)
• Sacramento State's defense was also adept at "turning two," ranking No. 9 in the NCAA with 52 double plays and No. 12 with 0.90 per game

THE SCHEDULE
• This year's non-conference schedule features five opponents that finished in the top 50 of the final 2025 RPI -- four of which ranked among the top 25 at season's end
• Seven of Sacramento State's opponents for 2026 were NCAA Tournament qualifiers -- UC Irvine, Fresno State, LSU, Kansas, Creighton, UCLA, and WAC rival Utah Valley
• The Bruins and Tigers were also College World Series participants with LSU taking home its eighth national championship
• Five of the Hornets' opponents either won or shared their respective conference titles: Creighton in the Big East, Nevada in the Mountain West, Abilene Christian in the WAC, UC Irvine in the Big West, and UCLA in the Big Ten
• Meanwhile, three conference tournament champions also dot the Sacramento State slate in Big East champion Creighton, Mountain West champion Fresno State, and WAC champion Utah Valley

TESTING TOP TALENT
• Along with the aforementioned gauntlet of a schedule, the Hornets will face off against some of the nation's top individual talents
• As the season gets underway, Sacramento State is scheduled to face six players who were recently named to the preseason Golden Spikes Watch List: UC Irvine pitcher Ricky Ojeda, UCLA infielders Roch Cholowsky and Mulivai Levu, LSU outfielder Derek Curiel and pitcher Casan Evans, and Kansas infielder Brady Ballinger

BENCH BOSSES
• Head Coach Reggie Christiansen announced updates to his staff during the offseason
• The biggest addition is that of new pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Grant Kukuk, who returns to his alma mater (2015-16) following Division I stints at Utah Valley (2022-24) and Pacific (2025)
• He replaces Jon Wente, who was named head coach at Arizona Western College in August
• Long-time assistant coach, and former Hornet himself, David Flores, was elevated to Associate Head Coach for his 13th season on the bench
• One of the most successful coaches at the junior college level in California, Tony Bloomfield enters the 2026 campaign as the program's Director of Player Development
• Casey DeMello serves as the program's Director of Operations for his second season on staff
• Returning for his 11th season with the program, assistant coach Matt Smith enters his third year as a full-time assistant, helping develop the outfielders, working with the hitters, and coaching first base

FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME
• Sacramento State will face three opponents for the first time in the history of the program in 2026: Saint Joseph's (Feb. 19-22), UMass Lowell (March 10), Winthrop (March 19-21) 

ARMS RACE
• The Hornets' bullpen will be a busy place in 2026 as the team's 40-man roster features 25 pitchers
• Of the 25 pitchers, only one of them are left-handed: junior Sean Carey -- who is also one of only two southpaws on the entire roster along with sophomore outfielder Orlando Cobarrubias

STATE OF THE HORNETS
• Sacramento State's 2026 roster will represent nine different states, two Canadian provinces, and the nation of the Philippines
• Of the Hornets' 40 student-athletes, 22 of those hail from California, five are Arizona natives, and four more come from Nevada
• Also featured on the roster are student-athletes from Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, and Washington
• The nine represented states are the most in the program's Division I history, breaking the record of eight in 2024
• Junior Cameron Sewell (Medford) is the first Hornet from Oregon since Ty Fox (Central Point) in 2018
• Bryce Stockton, originally from the Sacramento area before moving to Idaho during his freshman year of high school, is the first player from Idaho since Jason Haselhahn (Moscow, Idaho) in 1996
• Freshman outfielder Sam Harry (Castle Rock, Colo.) and junior right-hander Konner Entz (West Fargo, N.D.) are the first-ever Hornets from those states in the program's Division I history
• All told, Sacramento State rosters have now featured student-athletes from 19 different states in the program's Division I history: California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Washington, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Hawai'i, Georgia, Alaska, Tennessee, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, and North Dakota
• Only once in the program's Division I history has the Hornet roster featured all Californians, that coming during the 2009 campaign
• This year's roster also features a pair of Canadians in junior Luis Pimentel-Guerrero (Burlington, Ontario) and junior Ayden Hadley (Langley, British Columbia) as well as the program's first-ever player born and raised in the Philippines in Jakob Poturnak, who then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia

IT'S A FAMILY AFFAIR
• A number of Hornets on this year's roster have family connections to Sacramento State
• Cameron Sewell's uncle attended Sac State
• Ari Kligman's brother, Elie was a catcher for the Hornets in 2024-25, and now plays at Michigan
• Kurt Marton's parents and his aunt all attended Sacramento State
• Carson Timothy's brother, Hunter, was on the roster for the Hornets in 2022 but did not appear in a game
• Jacob Kobrin's parents are both Sacramento State alumni
• Devin James' mother is a Sacramento State graduate while his cousin, Adaurie Dayak, played women's soccer for the Hornets from 2013-16
• Tyler Blankenship's Hornet roots go deep: his father, Robert, pitched at Sacramento State from 1987-89 and was drafted in the 21st round by the Cincinnati Reds, his uncle, Shawn, was an infielder for the Hornets in 1989 and 1991 and signed a free agent contract with Milwaukee, and his grandfather, Bill, was the pitching coach for the Hornets from 1990-92

LOCAL FLAVOR
• This year's Hornet roster will have a definite local flair, featuring 12 student-athletes from Sacramento and the surrounding areas
• Ryan Christiansen (Rio Americano HS), Elijah Rogalski (Rio Americano HS), and Jackson Halverson (McClatchy HS), all hail from Sacramento
• Brett Ott (Granite Bay HS) is from Rocklin
• Devin James (Bella Vista HS) is from Orangevale
• Sean Carey (Folsom HS) is from Folsom
• Ethan Lay (Colusa HS) is from Colusa
• Peter Caldera (Granite Bay HS) is from Granite Bay
• Carson Timothy (Pioneer HS) is from Woodland
• Kurt Marton (Oakmont HS), Tyler Blankenship (Woodcreek HS), and Trevor Wilson (Oakmont HS) are from Roseville