SAN MARCOS, Calif. ­– With its first CCAA series of the season washed out due to the recent rainfall in Southern California, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team (6-4) will finally begin conference play this weekend on the road at No. 5 Cal State San Bernardino (9-1) beginning on Friday at 2 p.m. at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino.
 
LAST WEEK

• Despite multiple efforts to get games in, CSUSM's opening CCAA series against Chico State was ultimately canceled due to wet field conditions.
• The Cougars haven't played the Wildcats at home since 2018 and won't have the chance again to do so until at least 2025 due to the rotating conference schedule.
• Prior to this past weekend, CSUSM ended non-conference play with a series win over Concordia University Irvine on Feb. 17-18.
• The Cougars won the first game in Irvine by a score of 6-1 before earning the series victory in the first game of the Saturday doubleheader in San Marcos with a 6-2 win.
• CSUSM ended non-conference play by taking two of its three series.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• Putting down 12 sacrifice bunts for the season, the Cougars rank 10th nationally and second in the conference.
• CSUSM has the 15th-best fielding percentage in the nation and ranks second in the CCAA at .981.
• Cougar batters have been hit by a pitch 21 times so far – the second most in the conference.
• Striking out 9.5 batters per nine innings, CSUSM's pitching staff ranks third in the conference.
• The Cougars' strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.18 ranks fourth in the conference.
• CSUSM's .416 on-base percentage is the fourth best in the league.
• Walking 45 times so far, the Cougars rank fourth in the CCAA.
• Walking 1.22 times per game, Niko Diaz leads the conference.
• Pat MacDonald Jr. has the fourth-best ERA in the CCAA and 35th best in the nation at 0.60.
• MacDonald and Conner Gleissner rank ninth and 10th in the CCAA with strikeout-to-walk ratios of 4.33 and 4.25, respectively.
• Gleissner ranks fifth in the conference for strikeouts with 17 while his 5.79 hits allowed per nine innings ranks eighth.
• With WHIPs each under 1.0, MacDonald (.87) and Gleissner (.93) rank seventh and eighth in the CCAA, respectively.

 

GAMES 11-14 | NO. 5 CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO
Date	Friday, March 3 - Sunday, March 5
Times	March 3 - 2 p.m. March 4 - 1 p.m. (DH) March 5 - 12 p.m.
Locations	San Bernardino, Calif.
Venues	Fiscalini Field
Records	CSUSM (6-4) CSUSB (9-1)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

WEEKEND SERIES IN SAN BERNARDINO

• Like CSUSM, CSUSB was unable to finish a game this past weekend with its CCAA opener at Cal State LA getting suspended in the eighth inning due to rain. The Yotes were leading the game 16-5 when play was halted.
• The Yotes had a strong showing in non-conference play with a three-game series sweep of Central Washington, a four-game series sweep of Saint Martin's and a three-game series win against then-No. 4 Point Loma.
• San Bernardino was picked to finish fifth in the 2023 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll with 2022 All-CCAA selections Austyn Coleman, Jake Borst and Deshawn Johnson each returning.
• The Yotes lead the CCAA in home runs (18), runs (101), scoring (10.1), slugging (.537) and strikeouts per nine innings (10.8).
• CSUSB has a team batting average of .338 and team ERA of 4.23, record second and third in the conference, respectively.
• Batting .500, Johnson leads the CCAA while also having the top on-base percentage (.617).
• The Cougars have won the past two series against the Yotes dating back to 2019.
• CSUSM is 13-17 in the all-time series and is 6-9 when playing CSUSB in San Bernardino.
• This will be the Cougars' first time playing the Yotes on the road since April 18-19, 2019.

2023 SQUAD

• CSUSM has 18 returners for the 2023 season, including 2022 All-CCAA second-team recipients Ethan Rivera and Luke Reece.
• The Cougars will have 12 newcomers this season with six freshmen and six transfers.
• CSUSM's pitching staff is made up of 16 in total with 11 right handers and five lefties.
• Athletically, the Cougars are made up of two redshirt juniors, 16 redshirt sophomores, two true sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and six true freshmen.
• CSUSM was picked to finish 11th in the 2023 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The Cougars' 50-game schedule includes 28 home contests and 22 road games.

THE GARCIA FILE

• Head Coach Jose Garcia was announced as the new leader of the CSUSM baseball program on Aug. 1, 2022.
• Garcia came to CSUSM from fellow CCAA member Chico State where he was the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Wildcats.
• Joining Chico's staff as a student assistant in Fall 2012, Garcia helped the Wildcats notch 286 victories, seven postseason appearances, two CCAA Championships, one NCAA West Region Championship and one College World Series appearance in 10 years with the program.
• Serving as Chico's primary hitting and infield coach, Garcia coached the Wildcats' offense to a conference-record .344 team batting average while assisting the team to a 34-15 overall record in 2022 despite only returning seven players from the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
• In 2017, Garcia helped Chico to another CCAA record with a win-loss total of 34-4 in conference play while also helping the team to an NCAA Division II-best .983 fielding percentage.
• Garcia is a graduate of Chico State and earned his bachelor's degree in Kinesiology with an emphasis in coaching. He later earned his master's degree in School and Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Positive Coaching from the University of Missouri in 2017.