When the River Cats earned a lopsided win with the help of their star players Thursday night, the Raley Field faithful welcomed Sacramento State students and alumni as honored guests.

The special event was a collaborative effort between the River Cats and several Sac State organizations such as the Alumni Association and the Well. Jennifer Barber, who works for the Alumni Association and was manning a booth just inside the front gate, said she was excited about the game because it gives the association a chance to meet alumni and “get them back to campus.”

Many current and former students who showed up were excited that Sac State is making an effort to be visible in the community. Junior biology major Lauren Smith goes to many River Cats home games and was going to Thursday’s game against the Salt Lake Bees anyway, but when she learned about Sac State night she was sure to sport her green “Sacramento State” sweatshirt.

Smith said she thinks events like the game benefit the university in two major ways.  First of all, it gives students a great opportunity to participate in social events off campus. This is important, she said, because “it does not seem like you are just stuck doing sororities and stuff.”

Also, Smith said Sac State can definitely use the publicity in the area.

She said she has seen many people she knows go out of state to schools like the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or to colleges in Southern California, mainly because some students do not view Sac State as a viable alternative to bigger-name institutions. If more events like Thursday night let Sacramentans know Sac State is active in the community, more might be willing to stay in town.

“They would know that they can get the same quality education here as they can get out of state,” Smith said.

The Sac State Athletic Department was out in full force Thursday night, mainly getting the word out to alumni about the upcoming Hornet football season. Among the representatives was T-ante Sims, himself an alumnus, who graduated with a degree in marketing in 2002.  He said he did not see as many people wearing green and gold as he would have liked.

“There may be a lot of alums,” Sims said, “but you would not know it because they do not wear gear.”

Sims said this is mainly due to the lack of tradition at Sac State. It has a history as a commuter campus, and people are just not used to showing as much pride in Sac State as students are at other schools, but he said this is slowly beginning to change. The addition of more events like Thursday night and the introduction of the Green Army has increased visibility and is beginning to build that tradition.

He also said he thought the increase in pride may in part be because the cost of an education has gone up so much that people take Sac State more seriously than perhaps they did before.

Mirjana Gavric is the director of the Well and was central in organizing the night with the River Cats. Thursday marked the third annual Sac State Night at the ballpark, and Gavric said it was the most successful yet. She also revealed a couple ways she thinks it can be made even better.

“Every year it has gotten a little bit stronger,” she said, “so next year we hope to really grow it. We would like to grow this night and actually next year get (University Transportation and Parking Services) involved and provide shuttles to get students over there and back safely.”

Gavric said now that the Kings are staying in Sacramento, she hopes to put together a similar night at Power Balance Pavilion during the next basketball season.

Events like Sac State Night at Raley Field are attempting to go a long way towards increasing the university’s visibility in the community.

You can reach Alex Grotewohl at [email protected]