The Sacramento State baseball team will be relying on the talents and experience of its veterans to help guide the new freshmen through the season as head coach Reggie Christiansen enters his second season leading the team.

Assistant coach Thad Johnson said the team’s strength comes from returning players bringing their experiences from past seasons and the freshmen bringing a variety of talents.

“We have a lot of guys who understand what it’s like to play this game on a daily basis, and how much failure there is in this game. It is also our biggest weakness because we are still relying heavily on freshmen and sophomores,” Johnson said.

Sac State ended last season with a record of 19-39 overall and 6-18 in the Western Athletic Conference.

Senior catcher Derrick Chung batted third in lineup last season with a .256 average and scored 38 runs. He said he has confidence in the team this season.

“This is probably the best team that we have had in a while,” Chung said. “Our leadership is very good this year.”

Chung said the seniors, such as Trevor Paine, Brent Hottman and himself have been through a lot during the years of playing together and they take the lead for the younger players.

Fifth-year infielder Paine is returning this season after batting .220 and starting 14 games for the Hornets last season before suffering a wrist injury. Christiansen said he will help lead the team.

The Hornets are adding 12 freshmen to the roster. Christiansen said the group is talented, but their full potential cannot be measured until they compete against other teams.

“You never know until you get them out here opening day against somebody else,” he said.

Christiansen said the freshmen have been successful in working with the team and building chemistry.

“We are just taking it one year at a time and I think this group has a chance to be successful,” Christiansen said.

Johnson said last season was the building year with the team starting games with seven to eight freshmen.

“We have a couple good returning seniors that are very good with our younger guys and we feel the freshmen that will play are ready,” he said.

Chung said the freshmen have been working together and following the example set by the seniors.

“They work hard because they watch us (seniors) work hard, I feel that for their age they are able to keep up,” Chung said.

Chung said the freshmen show promise, such as infielder Scotty Burcham, pitcher Brennan Leitao and outfielder Kyle Moses.

Burcham, from Palm Desert High School, hit .371 and had 30 runs and 29 RBIs his senior season and was named the Most Valuable Player of the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section.

“He is a really good defensive shortstop and he works very hard,” Chung said. “He doesn’t get nervous too much, he has a lot of power, but could be a little better with his mental game but he’s got a lot of talent.”

Johnson said Burcham is one of the better defensive players in the league.

“Overall in the defensive standpoint, in two to three years he’s going to be the guy a lot of people will be talking about,” Johnson said.

Leitao, from Woodbridge High School, was selected for the 15th Annual Ryan Lemmon All-Star Showcase. He had a 1.63 ERA with 30 strikeouts while batting a .385 with 16 runs and 24 RBIs in his senior year.

“(Leitao) has a chance to pitch in some valuable innings for us this year,” Christiansen said.

Johnson said he has strong composure, poise and able to handle himself well with a stoic attitude toward the game.

“He is one of the better pitchers out of the pen, to be honest, I can see him becoming a starting pitcher one day,” Chung said.

Moses, from Tracy High School, led his team with 26 RBIs. His achievements earned him a place on the All-San Joaquin league for each of the four seasons played in high school.

Moses said he came into the team with the intention to play hard and bond with teammates to better the unit and himself.

“The experience is great, but I just came in trying to gain the older guys’ respect and I want to keep working hard and getting better,” Moses said.

Chung said the team has a good shot at winning the league with the addition of the new players on the team.

Christiansen said the team plays strong defense and the offense has improved since last year. He said they need to figure out the roles the pitchers need to play throughout the game.

The tone for the upcoming season is determination and confidence to better themselves from last season, Chung said.

“We are going to go from worst to first. We are going to work hard on every pitch,” Chung said. “We are going to have good at-bats and we will do whatever it takes to win the ball game,” he said.

Joe de Ocampo can be reached at [email protected].