After opening the season in Hawaii, the Sac State baseball team will play its first home game on Friday as they host San Francisco at 2 p.m.

With a good mix of returning players and new ones, head coach John Smith has his Hornets ready to improve on last year?s record of 23-33.

“The conference we play in is very strong and competitive,” head coach John Smith said. “Last year we demonstrated that we belong there but our pitching gave out at the end of the year. Our goal is to have the same start as last year with a better finish.”Smith is expecting the same pitching staff that floundered at the end of last year to be the team?s strength this year.

“Pitching is probably our brightest. We lost Chad Elliott, our best pitcher last year,” Smith said. “But we still have Steve Cuckovich, who was our next best one, and (closer) Michael Penbera.”

Smith is also blessed with a lot of depth in the pitching rotation this season.”We haven?t been this deep in a long time,” he said. “I?m excited about our pitching staff.”

Senior center fielder Aurelio Jackson needs only 9 hits to surpass (Brandon Marshall) and become the all-time Sac State hit leader.

“He doesn?t care about the record, he just wants to play,” Smith said. “He?s got a chance to go to the next level if he stays healthy.”

Jackson, who has hit over .300 in each of his first three years, batted .306 last year with an on base percentage of .420, while leading the team with 17 stolen bases. He is already off to a blazing start this season as he got seven hits in 11 at bats in the three games against Hawaii. Jackson also stole five bases in seven attempts, to go along with three runs and three runs batted in.

The Hornets also get senior second baseman Carlos Morales back. Morales led Sac State in home runs, RBI, runs, hits and doubles last year. Last season?s batting average leader Cory Williams, a senior second baseman, is also back in the line-up.

Smith feels that his team will be ready when conference starts on April.

“We need to get prepared and when we start conference, we can be playing as a team and a unit,” Smith said of his team. “(Due to practices in Hawaii) We are already two weeks ahead.”