SAN MARCOS, Calif. – With crossover season in full effect, Cal State San Marcos Athletics will have five teams in action this week.
 
Women's golf will get the week started at the Mikuni Sushi Shootout on Monday and Tuesday in Lincoln, California.
 
Men's and women's basketball will return to The Sports Center for games against Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Thursday evening's game is also our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's annual California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) food drive. Bring three canned food items and receive free entry to the doubleheader. All items collected will be donated to the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and will be distributed to those in need all over San Diego County. The women will take the court at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by the men at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the women will start things off at 1 p.m. before the men's contest gets underway at 3 p.m.
 
Softball returns to the CSUSM Softball Field for a doubleheader against Concordia Portland on Friday beginning at noon. The Cougars will then go on the road to face Azusa Pacific in a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.
 
Baseball will start CCAA play on Friday when it hosts Cal State East Bay in a four-game series at CSUSM Baseball Field. Friday's series opener will begin at 2 p.m. while Saturday's doubleheader starts at 11 a.m. The series finale will take place on Sunday at 11 a.m.


WOMEN'S GOLF
Monday, Feb. 11 – Tuesday, Feb. 12
Mikuni Sushi Shootout
Lincoln, Calif. –  Catta Vedera Country Club (par 72, 5,989 yards)
LIVE SCORING

CSUSM TOP FIVE
1. Jaime Jacob (Encinitas/La Costa Canyon HS)
2. Bergen Benedict (Turlock/Turlock HS)
3. Sarah Garcia (Turlock/Turlock HS)
4. Claire Hogle (San Diego/Rancho Bernardo HS)
5. Breann Horn (Lakeside/El Capitan HS)
Individual: Emily Lichty (San Clemente/San Juan Hills HS)
Individual: Savannah Magallon (San Diego/La Jolla Country Day School)

TEAMS
Academy of Art, Cal State East Bay, Cal State Monterey Bay, Cal State L.A., 15 Cal State San Marcos, Chico State, Concordia-Portland, Dixie State, Dominican, Hawaii Pacific, Holy Names, Menlo, Point Loma
*rankings by Golfstat.com

COUGAR UPDATE

• In the rain-shortened PLNU Sea Lion Invite, the Cougars won the team title with a 15-over 303.
• The Cougars defeated Victoria (B.C.) by 13 strokes to capture their third victory of the 2018-19 season.
• Senior Bergen Benedict finished the tournament with a 2-over 74 but lost the card off to Point Loma's Alli Kim.
• Benedict collected her second-career CCAA Golf of the Week honor for Jan. 30 – Feb. 5.
• In its second season as a CCAA-sanctioned sport, CSUSM women's golfers have now earned 11 of 21 possible weekly awards including four this season.

 
MIKUNI SUSHI SHOOTOUT

• This marks the first time CSUSM has competed in the Mikuni Sushi Shootout.
• CSUSM will tee off at 10 a.m. alongside Dixie State, Point Loma and Concordia-Portland on holes 11-15.
• The tournament was previously named the PLNU Reach.
   

THE HUTTON FILE

• Head coach Greg Hutton has been at the helm of the men's program since the 2010-11 season and was named the women's head coach in 2014.
• Under Hutton's leadership, the women's team won CSUSM's first CCAA Championship in school history in 2018.
• Both teams qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships last season.

 

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 14 – 7:30 p.m. (Pink Night!)
CSUSM (5-17, 2-14 CCAA) vs. Cal State L.A. (13-10, 9-8 CCAA)
San Marcos, Calif. | The Sports Center
Live Stats | Cougar Sports Network
 
Saturday, Feb. 16 – 3 p.m. (Greek Day!)
CSUSM vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills (11-10, 9-7 CCAA)
San Marcos, Calif. | The Sports Center
Live Stats | Cougar Sports Network
 
PREVIOUS WEEK

• The Cougars took two losses at Cal State San Bernardino (69-58) and at Cal Poly Pomona (88-55).
• Bryce Sloan led the Cougars with 14 points against the Coyotes while JR Williams played his third consecutive 40-minute game while scoring 13.
• Khalil Fuller put up a team-high 15 points and a game-high eight rebounds in CSUSM's game against the Broncos.

 
THURSDAY AGAINST CAL STATE L.A.

• The Golden Eagles took a loss against Cal State East Bay (83-73) before earning a 22-point victory (93-71) over Cal State Monterey Bay this past weekend.
• CSULA currently sits eighth in the CCAA standings.
• The Golden Eagles have the third-best scoring offense in the CCAA at 77.0 points per game, but they're allowing the ninth-most points per game at 73.0.
• Fard Muhammad leads the team with 11.9 points per game.
• CSUSM is 2-4 in the all-time series against CSULA and lost the last two games.
• The Golden Eagles took a 63-56 victory over the Cougars on Dec. 29 in L.A.

 
WRAPPING UP THE WEEKEND AGAINST CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS

• The Toros earned an 18-point victory (90-72) over Cal State Monterey Bay before taking a narrow 74-72 loss against league-leader Cal State East Bay this past weekend.
• CSUDH is currently seventh in the CCAA standings.
• The Toros' scoring offense ranks fifth in the league at 75.6 points per game, but their scoring defense is next-to-last in the conference at 77.4 points allowed per game.
• Colton Kresl leads CSUDH with 11.6 points per game.
• CSUSM has a 4-3 lead in the all-time series against CSUDH and is 2-1 when playing in San Marcos.
• The Cougars suffered an 86-74 loss when playing the Toros in Carson on Dec. 31.

 
THE FOSTER FILE

• Head coach B.J. Foster enters his third season in charge of the CSUSM Men's Basketball program after taking over the head position in 2016.
• Under his leadership, the Cougars advanced to the CCAA Tournament for the first time in 2017-18 after finishing the season with a 15-7 conference record and a 20-9 overall record.
• Prior to becoming head coach of the Cougars, Foster was an assistant coach with the team from 2013 to 2016.
• Foster has tallied a career record of 45-36 (.556).

SOFTBALL
Friday, Feb. 15 – Noon (DH)
CSUSM (0-4) vs. Concordia Portland (2-5)
San Marcos, Calif. | CSUSM Softball Field
Live Stats 

Saturday, Feb. 16 – Noon (DH)
CSUSM vs. Azusa Pacific (1-5)
Azusa Calif. | Cougar Softball Complex
Live Stats | Watch

PREVIOUS WEEK

• The Cougars dropped their season-opening CCAA series to Cal State San Bernardino.
• The first game of both doubleheaders was lost by one run, including a nine-inning series opener on Friday.
• Melody Forstie and Raven LeClair each tallied a team-high six hits in the series.
• Nikki Andelin drove in four runs including her first collegiate home run, a three-run blast in the season-opener.  
• Jaqlyn Newhouser ranks third in the CCAA with six walks and recorded her first home run of the season in Friday's nightcap.  

 
GNAC'S CONCORDIA PORTLAND

• Friday's doubleheader marks the first meeting between these two teams.
• CUP opened the 2019 season at the Desert Stinger Tournament by going 1-2 with losses against Cal State Dominguez Hills (7-11) and then-No. 23 UC San Diego (2-11).
• The Cavaliers went 1-3 last weekend against NAIA's Oregon Tech and Simpson.
• Paityn Willoughby is leading the Cavaliers' offense with nine hits, four runs, two RBIs and five walks.
• CUP was picked to finish last in the GNAC preseason coaches' poll.

  
PACWEST'S AZUSA PACIFIC

• CSUSM holds an 11-9 all-time series record over Azusa Pacific.
• The Cougars split their 2017 series with the APU Cougars, recording a 3-2 victory in the opener before falling 2-0 in the nightcap.
• APU competed in the NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, last weekend and went 1-3. The Cougars collected a win over Harding (5-0) and fell to No. 5 Saint Leo (1-7), No. 22 Valdosta State (0-1) and No. 3 North Georgia (0-1).
• Cayla Boussard is APU's top hitter with eight hits and a .381 hitting average.
• CUP was picked to finish third in the PacWest preseason coaches' poll.

 
THE EWING FILE

• Head coach Stef Ewing enters her first season in charge of the Cougar softball season as the fourth head coach in program history.
• She previously served as the assistant coach at New Mexico State where she helped the Aggies to three WAC Regular Season Conference Championships and two WAC Conference Tournament Championships. 

 

BASEBALL
Friday, Feb. 15 – 2 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 16 – 11 a.m. (DH)
Sunday, Feb. 17 – 11 a.m.
CSUSM (4-2) vs. Cal State East Bay (2-1)
Live Stats | Cougar Sports Network (Feb. 15 & Feb. 17 Only)
 
PREVIOUS WEEK

• CSUSM earned a series-opening 9-8 win at Concordia Irvine to move to 4-0 for the first time in program history on Friday.
• The Cougars dropped both games of their doubleheader against the Eagles on Saturday by scores of 6-3 and 7-1.
• Through six games, CSUSM has the second-highest team batting average in the CCAA at .286 while its pitching staff has the sixth-best ERA at 3.86.
• Austin Ott is tied for the league lead with eight runs scored and leads the Cougars with a .421 batting average.
• Grant Buck leads the conference with nine RBIs and is tied for the most home runs with two.
• Näshéa Diggs is tied for the most stolen bases in the CCAA with two.
• Mike Lopez leads the league with 16 strikeouts and has only allowed one walk in 15 innings of work.

 
CCAA OPENER AGAINST CAL STATE EAST BAY

• The Pioneers got their season started by winning two out of three games against Holy Names this past weekend.
• Before facing the Cougars, CSUEB will host Menlo College in a midweek contest on Tuesday.
• The Pioneers hit .299 in their first weekend of action while putting up an ERA of 1.73.
• The Cougars are 3-7 in the all-time series against the Pioneers and are 1-2 when playing in San Marcos.

THE GUILIANO FILE

• Head coach Matt Guiliano enters his third season at the helm of the Cougars baseball program.
• Prior to making his way to San Marcos, Guiliano was the head coach for nine seasons (2008-16) at his alma mater Sioux Falls.
• Guiliano is a 2006 graduate of the University of Sioux Falls and a 2001 graduate of Valley Center High School.
• Guiliano is 41-68 (.376) as CSUSM's head coach and is 216-301-1 (.418) for his entire head coaching career.