Sacramento St.’s Matt Masciangelo hit by pitch 7 times in 8 at-bats to open NCAA season

Matt Masciangelo will never forget his debut with Sacramento State’s baseball team.

During the Hornets’ doubleheader against Loyola Marymount on Friday night, Masciangelo, a junior outfielder who transferred from Cal State Bakersfield, was hit by a pitch seven times in eight plate appearances.

Seven.

Masciangelo was plunked three times in the opener and four times in the second game. One of the hit-by-pitches did earn him a run batted in at least.

The Hornets would drop both games of the doubleheader.

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According to Sacramento State, the most HBP’s by a Hornets player in one game before Masciangelo’s painful debut — by their available records dating back to 2006 — was three, which happened in 2021.

Maybe it was that place in the batting order, but after Masciangelo was removed from the second game after making a catch in left field, his replacement, Brett Ott, was then hit by a pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Overall, Loyola Marymount’s pitching staff beaned 11 Sacramento State batters over the two games.

Masciangelo would go on to say he did not believe he was being targeted intentionally at the plate.

So how does he explain it?

“Baseball is a game full of surprises, and this was one for the books,” he said.

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