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.

"After the third HBP in the first game, I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation," Masciangelo said via MLB.com. "It's not every day you find yourself trotting to first base, multiple times, without swinging. I guess it was after that moment I realized this was completely ludicrous. I had four more balls unfortunately find me after that, but hey, I'll take the on-base-percentage bump."

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.