Is Sac State baseball back? Team seeks NCAA bid with resilient ace, local slugger
A noticeable difference for the Sacramento State baseball team this season: the expressions of players and coaches.
A season after despair from a lost season, there is joy in the reboot, bounce-back campaign of the Hornets. This look starts with longtime coach Reggie Christiansen.
“I’ve never seen that guy smile so much, and it’s great to see because he’s a great coach and mentor,” Hornets slugger JP Smith said.
The coach agreed that he’s been in good spirits and has boomed of good cheer of late. Winning does that. Sacramento State clinched the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title on Thursday at John Smith Field to earn the top seed in this week’s WAC Tournament in Mesa, Arizona.
The opportunity to secure the program’s fourth NCAA Tournament bid since 2014 is reason enough to celebrate. But it goes deeper than that, Christiansen said. And it goes beyond being able to coach his son, Ryan Christiansen, a 6-foot-4 Rio Americano High School product who has seven home runs.
“This is a great group, and we truly don’t have superstar players, but we have a ton of really good players who care about each other,” the coach said. “This season has re-energized and revitalized me. The last two years were not a lot of fun.”
Christiansen said he’s dismayed by the changing landscape of college athletics with the transfer portal and NIL (name, image and likeness) money, and every coach agonizes on how to spread 11.7 scholarships over a 35-man roster. Those elements, injuries and tough losses led to a 26-31 record last season.
“I really questioned a lot of things in regards to where we are in college athletics, the profession itself,” Christiansen said. “But this group has really changed that for me, and it’s so fun to work with these guys.”
The Hornets have two veteran players with deep regional roots who can speak of the feel-good vibes on the J Street campus after a lean 2024.
Team ace Evan Gibbons leads the WAC in victories, and his 9-2 season included an eight-game winning streak. That he overcame two Tommy John elbow surgeries in his Sacramento State career isn’t just remarkable, it’s celebration worthy.
“That’s a pretty crazy journey he’s been on,” Christiansen said of the Franklin High School of Elk Grove graduate.
Said Gibbons, “Having two surgeries is not an ideal situation, but you have to take the trials and tribulations in stride. I’ve enjoyed the process. I got to see and learn a lot, and I am grateful. It was a tough time, but that comes with anything you go through in life. It’s not typically what people draw up when you picture a perfect college career, but it’s turned out fine.”
Gibbons has been around so long, that he’s earned senior citizen status in the clubhouse at the ripe old age of 25.
“I call him Monk, and we all love him because guys look up to people like him, especially overcoming his injuries,” said Smith, the Hornets home run hitter who hails from West Sacramento and Granite Bay High School in Placer County.
Gibbons’ first start as a Franklin senior in 2018 was a gem, a 15-strikeout perfect game against powerhouse Vacaville. He was The Sacramento Bee’s Player of the Year that season. As a Sac State freshman in 2019, Gibbons made the final out of the last game to clinch the WAC championship. This is his seventh season in the program, including two lost seasons with the elbow surgeries.
“He’s had a lot of struggles, and it’s so cool to see who he’s become, how much impact he’s had on other people,” Christiansen said. “His numbers, they’re awesome, but his legacy will be how he impacted teammates. His attitude is infectious. I never doubted that he could come back from those surgeries. He always saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Smith is Hornets career home run leader
Smith did not deny that he opens the door for his teammate that he calls “Monk” for the team’s weekly Bible study meetings before home games. The sessions usually include up to 10 Hornets players and are held in the team clubhouse.
“We pray and have scripture,” Smith said. “That’s been a huge part, something outside of baseball.”
The 6-foot-1, 240-pound junior may win any team competition of broadest grins. It’s been quite a career at the plate for Smith. He is the school’s career leader with 47 home runs, including 11 this season, and he is tied for sixth all-time on the career WAC list.
Smith drove in 31 runs and batted .351 as a junior at Granite Bay, helping the Grizzlies win a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship. During a Freshman All-American season at Sac State in 2023, Smith smashed 14 home runs and nine doubles to go with 45 RBIs.
Last season, Smith had 22 homers, second on the school’s all-time single-season list. He finished the 2024 campaign with 36 career homers to set a new program record previously held by one-time Cordova High School star Harvey Hargrove from 1995-97.
“He’s always had power,” Christiansen said. “This year, his overall quality at-bats have been better, and he has room to grow. He works at it.”
Added Gibbons, “JP, he shows up, happy to be there, every single day. The joy this game brings him, he definitely exemplifies that. He comes in with a smile every day. I had the chance to play with him for three years, and to see his growth as a player and person has been great.”
‘The dream of playing Division I baseball’
There’s always joy when one can send a bail sailing over a fence. Smith said he first experienced that thrill when he was a 7-year-old in the West Sacramento Little League.
“I think I blacked out,” Smith said with a laugh. “It was a surreal moment, just running around the bases. Didn’t know what to do.”
He figured out the home run trot soon enough. More than swatting the baseball all over the yard or out of it, Smith said his biggest thrill was being coached by his father, also named JP.
“My dad was my coach growing up,” Smith said. “He doesn’t miss a game. Dad has always been my constant support in a game big on failure. I love it. I see him as a great coach and man.”
Smith said that his team coming together as a championship group is better than any career slugging numbers.
“We don’t have the biggest recruits, but were about a team and guys coming together, being selfless, playing for the name on the front of the uniform,” he said. “I am most definitely proud of (the career home run record). Every game is another opportunity to live out the dream of playing Division I baseball, especially in your home town.”