Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  After facing a string of NAIA teams (most from the very stout GSAC conference) to start the season, Cougar baseball got its first chance against an NCAA opponent on Saturday, going on the road to face CSU San Bernardino.  The Cougars held up just fine, winning game one 6-5 before losing game two 8-5.

CSUSM is now 11-8 on the season.  CSUSB is 6-8.

The game one victory was a solid effort both at the plate and on the mound.  Senior starting pitcher Johnny Holtman pitched 6 1/3 innings, dancing around 10 hits to only surrender 4 runs – largely because he handed out just one walk.  He picked up the well-deserved win, improving to 2-1 on the year.

Still, the Cougar lineup had to deliver runs to get the win, and they did just that.  CSUSM took a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning, with Kevin Silvett leading off with a double, Ryle Parks delivering an RBI single, and Trent Jemmett blasting a two-run homer to left-center.

Up 3-1 in the sixth, Silvett would once again lead off with a double, this time coming home on a double by Parks, who would then be singled in by Baum to make it 5-1. 

An RBI single by Silvett made it 6-1 in the seventh, but San Bernardino quickly closed the gap, driving Holtman from the game with three runs in the seventh.  After the Cougars stranded the bases loaded in the eighth, the gap was closed to 6-5 with an unearned run in the bottom of the inning.

But reliever Brett Miller would get the job done, limiting the damage to that in two innings of work and closing things out with a double-play in the ninth.  He picks up his first save of the season.

CSUSB would get its revenge in game two, though the Cougars wouldn't go down without a fight.  Down 3-0 in the fourth inning, CSUSM scored a pair in the third on the strength of singles by Silvett, Coleman and Parks, then one more in the fourth on a Secciani home run to tie it.

San Bernardino would pull away though, scoring five runs over the next three innings.  Cougar starter Abraham Torres went three innings, though reliever Andrew Larson took the loss.

CSUSM will be in action Monday at home against Concordia.