By Ray Hamill — While many local athletes go on to have big careers competing out of the area, few can claim to have enjoyed the same success in the coaching ranks that Ferndale’s Reggie Christiansen has experienced.

On Sunday Christiansen closed out his ninth season as head coach of the Sacramento State baseball team, posting an eighth straight 30-win season.

A consistently competitive program under Christiansen’s guidance, the Hornets made it to the NCAA Regional tournament for the third time in six seasons.

For good measure, he also posted his 400th career win late in what was a thrilling campaign for the team that saw the Hornets go 40-25, the second 40-win season of his tenure.

More impressively, they won seven straight postseason elimination games on the way to keeping their season going.

In doing so, the Hornets became the first program to lose their opener in the WAC Tournament and go on to win out while eliminating each of the other five teams in the bracket.

A native of Ferndale who went on to play at Menlo College, Christiansen was hired as an assistant coach at the school in 2009 by then head coach John Smith.

Two years later Christiansen took over as head coach of the program and it didn’t take him long to have an impact.

Last weekend, the Hornets were 1-2 in the NCAA Regional tournament, falling twice to host Stanford to end their season.

The head coach’s achievements this season have not gone unnoticed either.

“I’ve seen Reggie’s teams a ton, and this is by far his best coaching job,” Smith told the Sacramento Bee.