MORAGA, Calif. – Saint Mary's Baseball will get its first tests of the season by playing three consecutive teams with winning records over the next week after jumping out to an 11-1 start this year. SMC will play one game at Sacramento State on Tuesday, before heading east to the Carolinas to take on East Carolina University for three games, and playing one game against Charleston Southern on Monday.
 
THE DETAILS
Saint Mary's (11-1) at Sacramento State (8-4)
Tuesday, March 8 at 4:00 p.m.
John Smith Field – Sacramento, Calif. (Live stats)
 
Saint Mary's (11-1) at East Carolina University (6-5)
March 11-13, Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium – Greenville, N.C.
Friday: 12:00 pm  (Watch | Listen Live | Live Stats)
Saturday: 1:00 pm (Watch | Listen Live | Live Stats)
Sunday: 10:00 am (Watch | Listen Live | Live Stats)
 
Saint Mary's (11-1) at Charleston Southern University (8-5)
Monday, March 14 at 10:00 a.m.
Nielsen Field at CSU Ballpark – Charleston, S.C. (Live Stats)
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels had their streak snapped on Sunday but still built a rally in the ninth that came up just short in a 9-7 loss to the UC Riverside Highlanders. The first loss of the season puts SMC's record to 11-1 and a set new program record in wins to start a season by five games.
 
The Gaels were able manufacture runs, but productive outs or wild pitches were how the Gaels would have to scratch across runs throughout the day.
 
Riverside struck in the seventh with their second extra-base RBI hit of the day when a double to left center cleared the bases and put the Highlanders up 8-5. Another Gaels error added a ninth run to the scoreboard for UC Riverside going into the ninth inning.
 
But Saint Mary's was not done trying to keep that streak alive. Almanza drove in Napier with a double to center before a double to right by Chong scored Almanza and the Gaels were down three with two down in the ninth.
 
The Gaels would plate a run with a balk and suddenly SMC was down just 9-7. The Highlanders managed to get Nick Mistone out for just the second time in a 3 for 5 day on a bang-bang play at first to escape the threat.
 
Chong drove in two runs on a 1 for 1 day with a walk and a sac fly. Almanza was 2 for 5 with and RBI and two runs scored. Campos scored a pair of runs as did Napier.

ADDITIONAL NOTES
Saint Mary's will allow fans in for free this season to Gaels baseball games as construction on the new stadium seating will take place this season.
 
ABOUT SAC STATE
 
The Hornets - led by 12th-year head coach Reggie Christiansen - are coming off another 30-win season, finishing 35-22 and advancing to their fourth straight WAC Conference Tournament. They've gotten off to a good start in 2022, including sweeping traditional powerhouse Long Beach State before losing three straight to Houston Baptist.
 
The team returns 17 players from a season ago, 16 of which saw game action last season, with five of those 21 returners in their fifth year with the program. Among the team's returners are four players who started 40 or more games in 2021. They include catcher Dawsen Bacho, whose 39 RBIs last year lead all returners, infielder Steven Moretto, the team's leading returning power hitter (8 home runs, 22 doubles), outfielder Trevor Doyle, who hit a career-best .324 and led the team with 52 runs in 2021, and infielder Keith Torres, the only Hornet to start and play in all 57 games a season ago.

Returning on the mound is relief specialist Jack Zalasky, who finished 7-2 with 4 saves and a 2.45 ERA across a team-leading 28 appearances last season. Lefty Brady Rodriguez, who leads all returners with 51.0 innings thrown a year ago, appeared in 21 games, and was both a starter and reliever last year. Right-hander Eli Saul is the team's only true returning starter after starting 13 games in 2021.

The Hornets did lose four impact players as both Matt Smith (.393, 8 HR, 44 RBI) and Ryan Walstad (.338, 6 HR, 46 RBI) graduated and starting pitchers Scott Randall (7-2, 2.89) and Travis Adams (6-3, 4.31) went in the 2021 MLB Draft.
 
Sacramento State added an incoming class of 17 players for the 2022 campaign. The group includes four transfers from four-year programs, three transfers from community colleges, and 10 players out of high school.

The four-year transfers include Carson Blatnick, a sophomore catcher from the University of Washington (Oakmont HS); Gunner Gouldsmith, a sophomore infielder from Washington State (Reno HS); Josh Rolling, a sophomore infielder from Cal (Bishop Manogue HS); and Cesar Velaro, a sophomore outfielder from Oregon State (Foothills Composite HS).

The community college transfers include Ryan Fleming, a sophomore pitcher from Chabot College; Trey Goodrich, a junior pitcher from South Mountain College (Hamilton HS); and Noah Rinehart, a sophomore pitcher from Mt. San Antonio College (Rancho Cucamonga HS).
 
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates, who have made 31 NCAA Regional appearances, won their second-straight American Athletic Conference regular season title with a league-best 20 wins, hosted the Greenville Regional (sixth in program history) for the third consecutive year in 2021 after earning a No. 13 National seed and advanced to the Vanderbilt Super Regional.
 
ECU finished ranked in all six national polls (Collegiate Baseball/No. 12, D1Baseball/No. 12, Perfect Game/No. 12, Baseball America/No. 13, NCBWA/No. 13 and USA Today/No. 13) in 2021 after posting a 44-17 overall record.
 
ECU returns 25 players including Freshman All-America selections C.J. Mayhue (2020), Zach Agnos (2021) and Josh Moylan (2021) along with AAC All-Conference performers Jake Kuchmaner (2019) and Bryson Worrell (2021). In all, the roster consists of 13 freshmen, 19 sophomores, five juniors and five seniors.
 
Sophomore Carson Whisenhunt has picked several preseason accolades heading into the 2022 campaign. Along with being named to the Golden Spikes Award Watch List and collecting preseason All-America honors from four national media outlets, he was also tabbed The American preseason Pitcher-of-the-Year by the leagues head coaches. Last year he posted a 6-2 record with a 3.77 ERA. The lefty fanned 79 batters while walking just 22 over 62.0 innings.

Mayhue was tabbed as a preseason All-American (third-team) by NCBWA and was including on the NCBWA Stopper-of-the-Year Watch List for the second consecutive year. In 2021, he appeared in a team and AAC-best 34 games (all relief) posting a 3-1 record with eight saves (AAC Co-leader). He allowed 24 runs (17 earned) on 44 hits with a 3.06 ERA ... Struck out 76 batters (third most on team) while issuing 21 walks over 50.0 frames.

Moylan enters the 2022 season as a preseason All-AAC selection by Perfect Game. As a rookie, he earned inclusion on three Freshman All-America squads and was a First-Team All-AAC selection (DH) by the leagues head coaches. He appeared in 59 games (58 starts) standing fourth on the club with a .310 (58-for-18) batting average. During Greenville Regional he registered three hits (two doubles) with a team-high five RBI. he Plated the Pirates lone run in the Nashville Super Regional after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning (June 12).

Agnos earned First-Team Freshman All-America accolades in 2021 by Collegiate Baseball and was tabbed as a second-team all-league pick by the leagues head coaches. He started all 61 games during second year with the program all at third base, batted .268 (55-for-205) with six home runs, 43 RBI and scored 38 runs, and added 15 doubles and one triple to go with a team-best 43 walks. He ranked third on the team with 18 multi-hit and 10 multi-RBI games. He registered six game winning RBI which included a two-RBI double in the Greenville Regional Championship Game against No. 24 Maryland.
 
ABOUT CHARLESTON SOUTHERN
 
The Bucs have been a streaky team in 2022, losing their first four games before going on an eight-game win streak. Three of those first four losses were against No. 2 Ole Miss. Charleston Southern is hitting .255 as a team and slugging .427 in the early going. They've accumulated a 5.95 ERA as a team and are allowing a .283 batting average over 107.1 innings pitched.
 
Evan Truitt has a 3.46 ERA in 13 innings pitched and have four batters hitting over .300 through roughly a dozen games played in Hogan McIntosh, Ryan Waldschmidt, Connor Carter, and Tyrell Brewer.
 
#GaelsRise