SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (16-21, 10-17 CCAA) will play its final home series of the season against Cal State East Bay (23-19, 17-15 CCAA) beginning on Friday at 3 p.m. at CSUSM Baseball Field. The series will continue on Saturday with a doubleheader at noon before Sunday's home finale at 11 a.m.
 
Prior to Sunday's game, CSUSM will honor seniors Jared Billen, Graham Cumming and Adam Lovato.

LAST WEEK

• CSUSM earned a series win over Sonoma State last weekend in Rohnert Park.
• The Cougars opened the series with an 11-inning 8-6 victory on Friday before splitting Saturday's doubleheader with a 9-3 loss and a 3-1 win. CSUSM closed out the series with a 3-0 shutout win on Sunday.
• Sunday was CSUSM's first nine-inning shutout on the road since 2016 at UC San Diego.
• This was the Cougars' first series win against Sonoma State since 2016 and was the first to occur in Rohnert Park.
• The series win moved CSUSM into a tie for eighth in the CCAA standings with Chico State.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• Preston Kelly earned three saves this past weekend to bring his season total to seven – tied for the second most in program history. His total ranks second in the CCAA and 13th nationally.
• Luke Reece ranks fifth in the CCAA with a .373 batting average while posting the third-best on-base percentage in the league at .493.
• Reece is drawing the third-most walks per game in the conference at .78 and is posting the sixth-most doubles per game at .38.
• Pat MacDonald Jr. has the CCAA's fourth-best WHIP at 1.20 and ranks 12th in ERA at 3.72. He's also allowing the seventh-fewest walks per nine innings in the league at 2.15.
• The Cougars have laid down the second-most sacrifice bunts in the CCAA and rank 22nd nationally with 32.
• Niko Diaz accounts for eight of CSUSM's sacrifice bunts, ranks second in the conference and 19th nationally. His total is tied for the third most in a single season by a CSUSM player.
• Nolan Long is six strikeouts away from becoming the 10th Cougar with 100 career strikeouts.

 

GAMES 38-41 | CAL STATE EAST BAY
Dates	Friday, April 28 - Sunday, April 30
Times	Friday, April 28 - 3 p.m. Saturday, April 29 - 12 p.m. (DH) Sunday, April 30 - 11 a.m.
Locations	San Marcos, Calif.
Venue	CSUSM Baseball Field
Records	CSUSM (16-21, 10-17 CCAA) CSUEB (23-19, 17-15 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

FINAL HOME SERIES AGAINST EAST BAY

• The Pioneers will come to San Marcos on a four-game winning streak.
• CSUEB won its series against Cal State LA this past weekend as it fell 4-1 in the opener before taking the final three games by scores of 13-4, 2-0 and 5-3.
• East Bay then posted an 11-1 win over San Francisco State on Tuesday in a rescheduled contest with the Gators. With the victory, the Pioneers split their series against the Gators.
• The Pioneers are currently tied for fourth in the CCAA standings with a 17-15 conference record.
• CSUEB is the CCAA's top base-swiping team with 51 this season.
• East Bay's pitching staff is recording the most strikeouts per nine innings in the league at 8.0 but is allowing the eighth-most walks per nine innings at 4.19. It also ranks seventh in ERA at 5.06.
• The Pioneers rank fourth in the CCAA for batting average at .298 and is sixth in scoring at 5.8 runs per game.
• Cole Anderson is CSUEB's top hitter with a .371 batting average and is the fourth toughest to strikeout in the CCAA at 12.0 at-bats between strikeouts.
• Essex Brown Jr. has the most stolen bases in the league with 25.
• Ethan Brodsky has the lowest ERA on the team at 3.19 and leads the CCAA with 73 strikeouts.
• CSUSM is 7-11 in the all-time series against CSUEB and is 4-3 when playing the Pioneers at home.
• Last season, East Bay took three of four games in the series in Hayward.
• This will be the Pioneers' first visit to San Marcos since 2019. The Cougars won that series by taking three of four 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.