SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (7-12, 1-8 CCAA) will resume its suspended March 10 home game against Cal State Dominguez Hills (13-10, 8-5 CCAA) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. before hosting Stanislaus State (16-14, 9-11 CCAA) in a four-game series beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. The Cougars and Warriors will play a doubleheader on Saturday at noon before concluding the series on Sunday at 11 a.m.

LAST WEEK

• CSUSM had its bye week for CCAA play this past weekend.
• Prior to that, CSUSM traveled to Cal State LA and picked up one game from the series.
• The Cougars fell in the first three games 13-5, 6-5 and 12-2 before earning a 20-10 win against the Golden Eagles in the series finale.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• CSUSM pitchers are tallying 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking fourth in the CCAA.
• The Cougars have laid down the fourth-most sacrifice bunts in the conference at 14.
• CSUSM ranks fifth in the CCAA for doubles and doubles per game at 36 amd 1.89, respectively.
• The Cougars have the sixth-best batting average in the conference at .286.
• CSUSM also has the sixth-best on-base percentage at .395.
• At 6.0 runs per games, the Cougars are scoring the sixth most in the CCAA.
• Luke Reece leads the CCAA and ranks 14th nationally with .50 doubles per game.
• Reece also has the league's sixth-best on-base percentage at .494.
• Emilio Luna is getting hit by a pitch at a rate of .53 per game to lead the CCAA and rank 12th nationally.
• Batting .385, Niko Diaz ranks seventh in the conference.
• Diaz is the CCAA's fifth toughest to strike out with 13 at-bats between strikeouts.

 

GAME 16 | CAL STATE DOMINGUEZ HILLS
Date	Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Times	3 p.m.
Locations	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	CSUSM Baseball Field
Records	CSUSM (7-12, 1-8 CCAA) CSUDH (13-10, 8-5 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

RESUMING THE MARCH 10 GAME AGAINST THE TOROS

• Rain halted play in the second game of the March 10 doubleheader against the Toros.
• Play will resume in the top of the fourth inning with the bases loaded and no outs for Dominguez Hills with a 1-1 score.
• CSUDH won the first game of the series by a score of 9-2.
• Since March 10, the Toros fell in three of four games against Stanislaus State on March 17-19 and split the series against SF State this past weekend.
• CSUDH is recording the fourth-fewest walks per nine innings in Division II at 2.4 and has the fifth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.38.
• The Toros are recording the eight-most doubles per game in the nation at 2.57.
• CSUDH has the third-best ERA in the CCAA at 4.28 and ranks fifth with a .297 batting average.
• At 2.0 hits per game, Eric Smelko leads the nation and has the 12th-best batting average at .465.
• The Toros are currently fourth in the CCAA standings.

 

GAMES 21-24 | STANISLAUS STATE
Dates	Friday, March 31 - Sunday, April 2
Times	Friday, March 31 - 3 p.m. Saturday, April 1 - 12 p.m. (DH) Sunday, April 2 - 11 a.m.
Locations	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	CSUSM Baseball Field
Records	CSUSM (7-12, 1-8 CCAA) STAN (16-14, 9-11 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

THE WARRIORS COME TO TOWN

• Fifth in the CCAA standings, Stanislaus State is coming into the weekend off a series split with Cal State LA.
• The Warriors fell 9-4 and 4-2 against the Golden Eagles in the first two games of the series before winning 2-1 and 10-7 in the final two games.
• Stan State has recorded the fifth-most sacrifice bunts in the nation at 29.
• The Warriors lead the CCAA with 35 stolen bases.
• Stanislaus hitters have the walked the second most in the CCAA at 122.
• Batting .265 as a team, the Warriors rank eighth in the CCAA.
• Stan State has the fourth-best ERA in the conference at 4.33.
• Flavio Perez is the Warriors top hitter with a .320 batting average, 40 hits, 11 doubles, 25 RBIs and a .520 slugging percentage.
• Jacob Baker is a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen base attempts.
• Casey Carr is the Warriors' top starting pitcher with a 3.47 ERA and 1.35 WHIP.
• CSUSM and Stanislaus are knotted up at 9-9 in the all-time series.
• The Cougars won last year's series in Turlock by taking three of four games.
• This will be the Warriors' first visit to San Marcos since 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.