Reggie Christiansen, Sacramento State Hornets

Reggie Christiansen is in his seventh season as head coach of the Sacramento State Hornets. The Hornets overcame a tough spot in the middle of the 2017 season to win the Western Athletic Conference Tournament with four straight victories, including a 5-0 triumph in the championship game against Cal State Bakersfield. The Hornets have a 32-27 record and are riding an eight game winning streak as they head to the Stanford Regional, where they will open play on Thursday against the Cardinal.

The 2012 and 2014 Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and Major League Baseball’s Northern California scouts Division I Coach of the Year, Christiansen took over the reigns of the program after spending the 2009 and 2010 seasons as the associate head coach. Among 24 Division I baseball teams in California, the Hornets entered the 2017 campaign with the seventh-most wins over the last five seasons. The team has won 200 total games since 2012 (including the 2017 season), which is more than several perennial postseason qualifiers, including Pepperdine, Stanford, Long Beach State, Cal, USC, and Fresno State.

From 2012-16, Christiansen’s program has received an All-American Honor (Rhys Hoskins), two all-West Region selections, four Freshman All-American Honors, three WAC Freshmen of the Year, and two WAC Player of the Year honors while Christiansen has twice been named the WAC Coach of the Year. The squad has also won 30 or more games in five straight seasons, the longest such streak since a string of nine straight 30-win seasons from 1985-1993.

The Sacramento State baseball program entered a new era during the 2016 season as lights were installed for the first time in the 63-year history of its home stadium, John Smith Field. The Hornets hosted Pacific in front of a near-capacity crowd for the first night game on campus on May 17 with Christiansen and former coaches Cal Boyes and John Smith ceremonially turning on the lights for the first time.

The 2016 Hornets made an early statement in non-conference play, winning two of three games in a season opening series at Auburn and rallying for a 5-4 win at No. 5 LSU, the team’s second win over a top-five ranked team in the last three seasons. Sacramento State then had a program-record long 13-game homestand, going 9-4,