The Sacramento State Hornets (also Sac State) represent

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, in intercollegiate athletics. The school fields 21 teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, rowing, soccer, tennis, and track and field; women's-only gymnastics, beach volleyball, volleyball, and softball; and men's-only baseball and football. The Hornets compete in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

, and are members of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eig ...

. The men's soccer and women's beach volleyball teams play as affiliate members in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

, the baseball team plays as an affiliate member in the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

, and the women's rowing team is an affiliate of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

Nickname

The Sacramento State official team nickname is the "Hornets."

History

Division II and Division III

The university has achieved multiple national championships as a Division III and Division II school. The school has also been a National Runner-up 8 times including Softball in 1989 (D-II), Women's Volleyball in 1979 and 1989 (D-II), Baseball in 1988 (D-II), Women's Track and Field in 1981 ( AIAW D-II), Men's Cross Country in 1979 (D-II), Football in 1964 (CDN), and Men's Basketball (1962 CDN). Prior to AIAW softball division classifications, the softball team played in two

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

in 1976 and 1977.

Move to FBS level sports

During

2010–2014 NCAA conference realignment 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, there was speculation that the Hornets' Athletic department would like to move the football team to the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) due to the population base of Sacramento (Ranked 20th largest in college sports), the (enrollment) size of the university and the attractiveness of recruiting in the

Sac-Joaquin Section The Sac-Joaquin Section (SJS) is the governing body of public and private high school athletics in parts of Northern San Joaquin Valley, California. Its geographic area also covers the California portion of the Lake Tahoe region; however, three ...

. During realignment, the WAC had shown interest in adding Sacramento State as a member. To make the move to the FBS, the school needed to add an additional sport for women in order to meet the criteria of

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educat ...

and also needed to fund a new sports complex for men's and women's basketball and volleyball because their arena was inadequate for FBS level sports and severely outdated (crowd capacity of 1012 persons). Sacramento State was unable to fund a massive facility upgrade for their athletic facilities (including basketball/volleyball, football, baseball and softball among others) in order to move to the FBS due to economic reasons and resistance from students and faculty members because of increasing

tuition Tuition payments, usually known as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in Commonwealth English, are fees charged by education institutions for instruction or other services. Besides public spending (by governments and other public bo ...

and overall cost. To become an FBS member, the football program would have been required to have an attendance average of 15,000 each season and the athletic department needed to increase overall funds for their athletic programs. On June 6, 2011, Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton announced that "We're in a better place than the WAC is.", marking an end of the athletic department's attempt to move to FBS level sports during that period.

Sports sponsored

All varsity teams representing California State University, Sacramento compete in the

except baseball (

), gymnastics (

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...

), rowing (

), and women's beach volleyball and men's soccer (

Baseball

The Sacramento State Hornets baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team of California State University, Sacramento. The team plays its home games at

John Smith Field John Smith Field, originally known as Hornet Field, is a baseball venue in Sacramento, the capital city of the U.S. state of California. It is home to the Sacramento State Hornets college baseball team. Opened in 1953, it has a capacity of 1,2 ...

. Notable baseball players for the Sacramento State Hornets include: * Cuno Barragan * Erik Bennett * Fred Besana * Keith Brown * Leon Brown *

Scott Burcham Scott Hunter Burcham (born June 17, 1993) is an American-Israeli professional baseball shortstop for the Charleston Dirty Birds of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He also plays for Team Israel. In high school, Burcham was named ...

* Roland de la Maza *

Patrick Edwards Patrick Michael Edwards (born October 25, 1988) is a former wide receiver in American football. Early years Edwards was born in Temple, Texas, to Patrick Dixon and Patricia Edwards. He was raised in Hearne, Texas, where he attended Hearne High ...

* Mike Fischlin * Jack Heron *

Rhys Hoskins Rhys Dean Hoskins ( ; born March 17, 1993), is an American professional baseball first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hoskins played college baseball for the Sacramento State Hornets. He was drafted by the ...

* Mitch Lively *

Buck Martinez John Albert "Buck" Martinez (born November 7, 1948) is an American former professional baseball catcher and manager, and is currently the television play-by-play announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball ( ...

* Matt Myers * Ron Stone *

La Schelle Tarver La Schelle Tarver (born January 30, 1959) is a former backup outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox during the season. Listed at 5' 11", 165 lb., he batted and threw left-handed. Early years Tarver was born in ...

Tim Wheeler Timothy James Arthur Wheeler (born 4 January 1977) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician for the alternative rock band Ash. He has written nearly all of Ash's notable works, such as " Oh Yeah", "Shining Light", " Girl from Mars" ...

* Gary Wilson

Basketball

Men's basketball

The Sacramento State Hornets men's basketball team represents California State University, Sacramento. The team plays its home games at the Hornets Nest.

Women's basketball

The Sacramento State Hornets women's basketball team represents California State University, Sacramento. The team plays its home games at the Hornets Nest.

Women's beach volleyball

The

Sacramento State Hornets women's beach volleyball ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

team participates in the

. They have played their home games at Livermore Community Park since 2016 while previously playing at the Sacramento Softball Complex since the team's founding in 2013.

Cross country

The men's and women's cross country teams participate in the

. They host their home meets at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex.

Football

The

Sacramento State Hornets football The Sacramento State Hornets football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the California State University, Sacramento located in Sacramento, California. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivi ...

program began in 1954, coached by Dave Strong (The teams' first football head coach). The programs' first victory came in the second season, 1955, where the Hornets defeated Southern Oregon by a point, which was also their only win of the season(they were winless in their first season of football). Sacramento State Football first affiliated with the Northern California Athletic Conference ( NCAC) from 1962 until 1972, where they were added to the Western Football Conference ( WFC) from 1973 to 1985, then becoming part of the D-1AA American West Conference ( AWC). In 1996, Sac State was added to the

along with

Portland State Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

, becoming the first California school in the Big Sky. Hornet Stadium has been home to the football team since 1969. The team has never been ranked in any major polls by the end of all their past seasons, but have won 4 conference titles: 1964 and 1966-NCAC, 1986-WFC, and 1995-AFC. The Hornets football team participated in 2 bowls, the Pasadena Bowl in 1968 against Grambling State, where the Hornets lost 7-34, and the Camellia Bowl in 1964 (1964 College Division National Runner-up), where Montana State Bobcats defeated the Hornets 28–7. Current success
One of Sac State's most notable wins came on September 3, 2011, in the season opener for both Sac State and

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for ...

of the Pac-12 conference at

Reser Stadium Reser Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon. It is the home of the Oregon State Beavers of the Pac-12 Conference, and opened in 1953 as Parker St ...

. The Hornets upset the Beavers in OT 29–28 with a 2-point conversion pass from QB Jeff Flemming to WR Brandyn Reed, beating an AQ Conference team for the first time in school history in front of an announced crowd of 41,581. The Beavers were a 23-point favorite coming into the game. On September 8, 2012, the Hornets repeated the feat of defeating a Pac-12, upsetting the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

by a score 30–28 in Boulder in front of a crowd of 46,843. The Buffaloes were heavily favored in the match up. Walk-on Edgar Castaneda was awarded a full scholarship following his game-winning field goal. Rivalry
In all sports, the university has a rivalry with the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The inst ...

due to close proximity. The rivalry football game is called the

Causeway Classic The Causeway Classic is the annual college football game between the Sacramento State Hornets and the UC Davis Aggies in the United States. The teams exchange a Causeway Classic Trophy made from cement taken from the Yolo Causeway. History of ...

and is played for the Causeway Carriage, referring to the schools' connection by the long

Yolo Causeway The Yolo Causeway is a long elevated highway viaduct on Interstate 80 that crosses the Yolo Bypass floodplain, connecting the cities of West Sacramento, California and Davis, California. It is officially named the Blecher-Freeman Memorial Caus ...

bridge over the

Yolo Bypass The Yolo Bypass is one of the two flood bypasses in California's Sacramento Valley located in Yolo and Solano Counties. Through a system of weirs, the bypass diverts floodwaters from the Sacramento River away from the state's capital city of S ...

floodway. More recently, the rivalry was officially expanded to include all sports the teams compete in. UC Davis leads the series 40 to 18 with no ties. This game has drawn crowds up to 18,000 in the Hornet Stadium, and is widely popular in the local area. Sacramento State's second main rival is CSU's sister school Cal Poly (SLO). The game is called the “Green and Gold” game for the similarities in color of the two school. Other notable rivalries includes Portland State,

Eastern Washington Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...

Weber State Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

, and conference powers Montana State University and the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...

. Past Hornets drafted in the NFL
Many Hornets have been drafted directly into the NFL onto teams such as the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

, Seattle Seahawks,

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

and the New England Patriots.

Soccer

Men's soccer

The Sacramento State Hornets men's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 2–2 through two appearances.

Women's soccer

The Sacramento State Hornets women's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 0–2 through two appearances.

Track and field

Indoor

The Sacramento State Hornets women's indoor track and field team appeared in the NCAA Division I Tournament one time, with that appearance being 56th place in the 2009–10 school year. The Sacramento State Hornets men's indoor track and field team never made the NCAA Division I Tournament.

Women's volleyball

The Sacramento State Hornets women's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 2–10 through ten appearances.

Championships

Team national championships

Sacramento State has never won a national championship at the NCAA Division I level. Sacramento State won 1 national championship at the NCAA Division II level. * Women's volleyball:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Below are three national championships that were not bestowed by the NCAA: * Women's golf – Division III (AIAW): 1981 * Softball – Division II ( AIAW): 1981 * Women's volleyball – Division III (AIAW): 1980 Below are five national club team championships: * Women's racquetball ( USRA): 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 * Men's rugby – Division II (

USA Rugby USA Rugby (officially the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of ru ...

): 2000 Note: Those with no denoted division is assumed that the institution earned a national championship at the highest level.

Team tournament appearances

The Sacramento State Hornets competed in the NCAA Tournament across 12 active sports (5 men's and 7 women's) 55 times at the Division I FCS level. *Football (2): 2019, 2021 *Baseball (3): 2014, 2017, 2019 *Women's gymnastics (4): 1999, 2006, 2007, 2008 *Men's soccer (2): 2009, 2010 *Women's soccer (2): 2007, 2010 *Softball (4): 1993, 1995, 2008, 2018 *Men's tennis (10): 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 *Women's tennis (13): 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 *Women's volleyball (10): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 *Women's indoor track and field (1): 2010 *Men's outdoor track and field (2): 2006, 2013 *Women's outdoor track and field (2): 1997, 2011

Individual national championships

Sacramento State had 3 Hornets win NCAA individual championships at the Division I Level. At the NCAA Division II level, Sacramento State garnered 13 individual championships.

Conference championships

The university has accomplished 55 conference championships, the most occurring in the Big Sky. Including: *Football (Big Sky, 2 total): 2019, 2021 *Women's Volleyball (Big Sky, 11 total): 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 *Men's Tennis (Big Sky, 12 total): 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 *Women's Tennis (Big Sky, 11 total): 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 *Men's Golf (Big Sky, 5 total): 1996, 1997/2007 (Independent)/2008, 2012 (American Sky) *Women's Soccer (Big Sky, 2 total): 2007, 2010 *Women's Golf (Big Sky, 1 total): 2007 *Men's Indoor Track & Field (Big Sky, 3 total): 2007, 2008, 2011 *Men's Outdoor Track & Field (Big Sky, 1 total): 2011 *Women's Indoor Track & Field (Big Sky, 3 total): 2008, 2010, 2011 *Women's Outdoor Track & Field (Big Sky, 5 total): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 *Women's Gymnastics (Mountain Pacific, 6 total): 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014/2006, 2007 (WAC), *Men's Soccer (Mountain Pacific, 3 total): 2001, 2009, 2010 *Softball (Pacific Coast, 1 total): 2008 *Baseball: (WAC, 3 total): 2012, 2014, 2017 *Women's Rowing (WIRAC, 5 total): 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, 2009

Traditions

Sacramento State Marching Band

The Sacramento State Marching Band performs at home football games each fall, as well as at numerous other university functions and also periodically at high school band festivals. The Hornet Revue Pep Band is a subgroup of the marching band, and performs at all home basketball (men's and women's) and volleyball games. Both bands are under the direction of Santiago Sabado.

Fight song

" Fight, Hornet, Fight!" is the official

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

of California State University, Sacramento. It is most widely known for being played by the Sacramento State Marching Band after scores at Sacramento State football games, and during the band's pre-game and halftime shows. It is played after a touchdown, field goal, extra point, or a safety. "Fight, Hornet, Fight!" is also played as the band forms a tunnel for the football team as they enter Hornet Stadium before the beginning of each home game. After every Hornet win, the football team comes over to the sideline where the band's section is and sings along while the song is being played. "Fight, Hornet, Fight!" was composed by Don McDonald in 1949. McDonald graduated from Sacramento State in 1952. The current arrangement of the song was written by former Band Director Jeffrey Edom in 1997.

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Sacramento State Hornets, color=white , list = {{Big Sky Conference navbox {{Western Athletic Conference navbox {{Big West Conference navbox {{Mountain Pacific Sports Federation navbox {{American Athletic Conference navbox