LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Stefan Miladinovich and Brandon Bentson each recorded five-hit performances as the No. 2-seed Cal State San Marcos baseball team upset No. 1-seed and host Georgia Gwinnett, 16-7, on Monday afternoon at Grizzly Baseball Complex.  With the win, the Cougars punched their ticket to the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Conference Championship game on Tuesday, May 5 at 10 a.m. PT.
 
The Cougars (35-14) will have to wait until later tonight to find out their opponent for the title game. CSUSM will face the winner of the Grizzlies, ranked No. 1 in the NAIA, and University of Houston-Victoria who are playing today at 4:30 p.m. PT.  
 
CSUSM is familiar with taking down a NAIA powerhouse; the Cougars took down then No. 2 Lewis-Clark State, 10-3, on Feb. 11.
 
The Cougars hit an impressive .432 (19-44) while CSUSM pitching staff held the nation's hit leader to just eight.  
 
Cameron MacKenzie (4-1) collected his second win in as many days. Making his first start of the season, he gave up four runs while striking out six in four innings of work.  GGC's Tyler Oglesby (5-2) picked up the loss after 3.2 innings, relinquishing eight runs – seven earned – on nine hits.
 
Miladinovich went 5-for-7 with two doubles while driving in three runs and scoring three times. Bentson also went 5-for-7 and recorded two RBIs.  Freshman Austin Ott went 3-for-6 with a double and Jon Putnam went 2-for-3 with an RBI double.  
 
The Cougars got things started with five runs in the second inning. Dylan Costello hit a lead off single to right field and moved up 90 feet on John Swilley's sacrifice bunt.  Freshman Tyler Place put CSUSM on the board with an RBI single to left center and Ott followed with his own single up the middle. Putnam doubled down the line to plate Place. With two outs, Miladinovich crushed a two-run double off the right centerfield wall and scored on Bentson's single to the opposite field.
 
Both teams put up a run in the third. CSUSM took advantage of a GGC error and the Grizzlies nabbed its first run after putting together two singles and a stolen base. 
 
The Cougars posted a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Swilley doubled down the right field line to plate two Cougars while Miladinovich and Bentson each pushed a run across in the next frame.
 
The Grizzlies registered their first of two three-run innings in the bottom of the fifth, scoring on three singles, a walk and a wild pitch.
 
CSUSM extended its lead to 14-4 with four runs in the seventh. Miladinovich led off with his 19th double of the season and Bentson followed with a single through the left side to put Cougars on the corners. A sacrifice fly by Ray Patchen brought Miladinovich home to raise his season RBI total to 53, tie for the most in CSUSM single season history with Austin Coleman (2012). Three consecutive walks plated Bentson and Ott's RBI single moved all the Cougars up 90 feet. CSUSM's final run of the inning was scored after a pitch hit Putnam.
 
GGC's final three runs came in the bottom of the eighth on a bases loaded two-RBI single by Marcus McCorkle and a double-play ball.
 
CSUSM's final two runs came off the bat of pinch hitter Clinton Perez when he sent the ball to the right centerfield wall for a double.
 
Notes: The Cougars are on a nine-game win streak and have set a CSUSM season record with 35 wins … Miladinovich's 19th double moves him into the No. 2 spot in the CSUSM single season record book alongside Trent Jemmett.  Austin Coleman, the 2015 CSUSM Hall of Fame Inductee, holds the record with 21 doubles.