SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The Cal State San Marcos baseball team (5-4, 1-3 CCAA) will play its first road games of the season against Cal State LA (3-7, 0-0 CCAA) beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The series will continue with a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. and will conclude with the series finale on Sunday at noon.
 
Due to field issues at Cal State LA, the entire four-game series has been moved to ELAC Baseball Field in Monterey Park, and there will not be a video stream available this weekend.
 
LAST WEEK

• CSUSM began CCAA play on a sour note, falling in three of four games to Cal State Dominguez Hills at home.
• The Cougars opened series with a 12-2 win over the Toros but then fell by scores of 8-1, 6-2 and 9-8 in the final three games.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• At 168 career strikeouts, Nolan Long is six away from breaking Garrett Apker's career record of 173 set in 2022.
• CSUSM's pitching staff is recording the most strikeouts per nine innings in the CCAA at 10.7 and ranks 19th nationally.
• The Cougars are scoring the second-most runs per game in the conference at 8.2.
• CSUSM has the second-best on-base percentage in the league at .424.
• The Cougars' 1.78 stolen bases per game rank second in the CCAA.
• CSUSM's batters have been hit by a pitch 26 times so far this season, ranking second in the conference.
• Hitting 2.11 doubles per game, the Cougars rank third in the league.
• CSUSM's .972 fielding percentage is the third best in the CCAA.
• Hayden Tregidga's .424 batting average ranks fifth in the conference while his .697 slugging percentage ranks sixth.
• Spencer Anderson's 2.35 ERA ranks third in the league, and he's allowing the sixth-fewest hits per nine innings at 6.46.

FIRST ROAD SERIES AGAINST CAL STATE LA

• LA ended its non-conference schedule by falling in three of four games to Regis this past weekend.
• The Golden Eagles began the year by taking two of three games against Vanguard before being swept in three games by Biola.
• LA has recorded a CCAA-best five triples.
• The Golden Eagles rank last in the conference in hits allowed per nine innings (11.21), home runs (2), scoring (4.7) and slugging (.350).
• LA's team batting average of .260 and team ERA of 6.10 both rank next-to-last in the CCAA.
• Cesar Chavez and Malik Clayton rank fourth and sixth for batting average in the conference at .448 and .421, respectively.
• Chavez's .556 on-base percentage ranks fifth in the league.
• Lino Zepeda's 9.95 strikeouts per nine innings rank seventh in the CCAA.
• Alejandro Huezo has an ERA of 3.50 and a WHIP of 1.06 in 18.0 innings and three starts.
• CSUSM won last year's series in San Marcos by taking three of four games from LA.
• The Cougars own the all-time series lead against the Golden Eagles at 17-15 but are 6-10 when playing on the road.

2025 OUTLOOK

• CSUSM was picked to finish third in the 2025 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
• The Cougars' roster of 39 includes 19 transfers, 14 returners and six freshmen.
• CSUSM has 18 pitchers in its arsenal, with 15 right-handers and three southpaws.
• The Cougars have 22 position players, including one two-way player.
• All but seven Cougars are upperclassmen.

THE GARCIA FILE

• Head Coach Jose Garcia enters his third season in San Marcos after taking over the CSUSM baseball program on Aug. 1, 2022.
• Garcia was the 2024 CCAA Coach of the Year in just his second season as a head coach. The Cougars finished second in the CCAA standings and made their first-ever appearances in the NCAA West Regional and CCAA Tournament. CSUSM's 27-21 overall record and 26-13 conference record were the program's best since joining NCAA Division II in 2016.
• The Cougars ended the 2023 season with an overall record of 20-25 and finished ninth in CCAA play at 14-21.
• 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.
• Garcia has a career record of 52-50 (.510).