It is never easy to come into a new level of competition, but Sacramento State’s two freshman starting pitchers, Sam Long and Jared Paderez, are taking Division I baseball head on.

Both Long and Paderez are starters in the back end of the Hornets’ rotation and have met the challenge with positive results. Long has been penciled in as the third starter, while Paderez has held down the fourth spot.

Juniors Ty Nichols and Brennan Leitao are at the front of the impressive rotation.

Both Long and Paderez have had difficult tasks this season, taking on teams that are considered national powers.

Long, who is 1-0 in three starts this season, pitched in two high-profile games against Fresno State. Both games have been under the lights in a single-game series. The combined attendance of the two games was 1,707 which a new experience for the freshman.

“I haven’t been used to it, playing in front of crowds like that,” Long said. “It was pretty cool to be able to pitch in front of that many people.”

Long got the victory in his first career start at Fresno State on Feb.19, throwing five innings and giving up only two runs to the Bulldogs. The southpaw has started two games at Raley Field this season, getting the no-decision in Hornet victories against University of Nevada, Reno and Fresno State.

Long leads all Hornet starting pitchers with an earned run average of 2.50 in 18 innings. It is also Long’s first semester at Sac State, as he graduated high school early last December in order to join the team. Long has seen much higher competition since playing in college.

“Pitching wise, in high school you’re gonna get a lot of strikeouts if you have good stuff,”Long said. “In college, you’re not gonna be very effective if you can’t throw more than one pitch for a strike.”

Sitting behind Long in the rotation has been Paderez, who has also shown impressive ability in his first four starts. The hard-throwing right hander is 6-feet-5-inches tall and has a 0-2 record on the season.

Paderez has started one game at home against the University of Utah and three games on the road, most notably at Texas A&M and the University of San Francisco.

Paderez’s best start of the season came at USF, where he went five innings, giving up one run on three hits and exiting the game with a 5-1 lead. The Hornets, however, lost 9-5 after multiple defensive breakdowns.

“To be able to play against schools like that and to take the mound against them, it’s a real big honor,” Paderez said. “With all that hard work I put in over the years, it put me in a position to play against teams like that.”

Head coach Reggie Christiansen saw confidence in the two young starters and has continually put them out there against the best teams.

“Jared had a really good fall for us, one of the better falls of anybody on our staff,” Christiansen said. “We knew (with) Sam coming in that he was going to be a guy that could start as well.”

For now, both pitchers have done well for the Hornets, keeping them in every game the two have started. Expect to see both Long and Paderez take the mound when Sac State starts its nine-game homestand Friday against the University of Minnesota.

You can follow Curtis Manlapig on Twitter @CTMstatehornet