SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (18-23, 12-19 CCAA) will play its final series of the regular season at No. 13 Cal State Monterey Bay (31-13, 28-8 CCAA) beginning on Thursday at 3 p.m. The series will continue with a doubleheader on Friday at noon before wrapping up on Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
LAST WEEK

• CSUSM split its final home series of the season against Cal State East Bay this past weekend.
• The Cougars began the series with a 10-8 win on Friday before earning a 9-2 victory in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. CSUSM then fell 6-3 and 6-2 to wrap up the series.
• Nolan Long struck out a career-high 10 batters in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader while pitching a career-best 7.0 innings.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• Nolan Long leads the CCAA with 10.76 strikeouts per nine innings.
• Preston Kelly has the 11th-most saves in Division II this season with eight. He tallied seven of them in April alone.
• Niko Diaz has put down the 15th-most sacrifice bunts in the nation this season with nine – the third most in a season at CSUSM. Diaz's 16 for his career also rank third in program history.
• Getting hit by a pitch 12 times this season, Emilio Luna's average of .32 per game leads the CCAA.
• Luna has reached base in 11 consecutive games – the longest active streak on the team.
• CSUSM has posted the 17th-most sacrifice bunts in Division II this season with 37.
• Nick Schnopp leads CSUSM with a .368 batting average and a .521 slugging percentage.
• Ethan Rivera has posted a team-high 16 multi-hit games this season, all with two hits. He also leads the team with 10 multi-RBI games.

 

GAMES 42-45 | NO. 13 CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY
Dates	Thursday, May 4 - Saturday, May 6
Times	Thursday, May 4 - 3 p.m. Friday, May 5 - 12 p.m. (DH) Saturday, May 6 - 11 a.m.
Locations	Seaside, Calif.
Venue	Otter Sports Complex
Records	CSUSM (18-23, 12-19 CCAA) CSUMB (31-13, 28-8 CCAA)
Live Stats	SideArm Stats
Live Video ($)	CCAA Network

FINAL SERIES IN SEASIDE

• The Otters come into this weekend's final series fresh off a series win at Cal State LA this past weekend.
• CSUMB fell 9-8 in the first game of the series against LA before earning 8-6, 9-6 and 14-8 wins.
• The Otters have already clinched one of the top two seeds in next week's CCAA Baseball Tournament in Seaside.
• In this week's NCBWA Division II Top 25 Poll, CSUMB ended up in a three-way tie for 13th.
• The Otters have the ninth-best fielding percentage in Division II at .976.
• Hitting 2.61 doubles per game, CSUMB ranks fifth in the nation.
• The Otters have the fourth-best batting average in the CCAA at .305 but rank seventh in ERA at 5.01.
• CSUMB is the top scoring team in the league at 7.8 runs per game.
• Nico Hartojo leads the CCAA with a .405 batting average.
• Drew Williams leads the league with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 56 RBIs.
• Ryan Platero has a team-best 3.34 ERA.
• CSUSM is 4-14 in the all-time series against CSUMB.
• The Otters took three of four games from the Cougars last season in San Marcos.
• Of CSUSM's four victories over CSUMB, three have occurred in Seaside.
• In the Cougars' last visit to Seaside in 2019, CSUSM and CSUMB split the series.

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.