SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Off to its best start since 2019, the Cal State San Marcos baseball team (4-0) will continue non-conference play by hosting Colorado School of Mines (1-3) on Thursday at noon at CSUSM Baseball Field.
 
LAST WEEK

• The Cougars began the 2025 season on a hot note with a four-game sweep of Saint Martin's.
• CSUSM began the year with a 9-1 win on Friday before racking up a 17-13 win in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader.
• CSUSM nearly finished the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, but the game had to be finished on Sunday due to darkness. Up 6-5 with the bases loaded and two outs, Nolan Long put the game away with three consecutive strikes.
• The Cougars capped off the series with a 12-5 win on Sunday to complete the sweep.
• Phoenix Sommay extended his reached-base streak to a program-record 46 games dating back to last season.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• With a weekend in the books, CSUSM's offense leads the CCAA in walks (27), doubles (13), fielding percentage (.993), hit by pitches (11), runs (44), sacrifice bunts (3), sacrifice flies (4), scoring (11.0), slugging (.598), stolen bases (11) and triples (1).
• Cameron Mahaffy and Garrett Teunissen rank first and second in the league with six and five walks, respectively. They are also tied for the most stolen bases with three.
• Getting hit by a pitch four times in the opening series, Phoenix Sommay leads the nation.
• Hayden Tregidga's nine RBIs are tied for the CCAA lead.
• Teunissen's .417 batting average ranks ninth in the league while his seven runs are tied for the most.
• Sommay (.615), Teunissen (.611) and Mahaffy (.600) have the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-best on-base percentages in the conference, respectively.
• A 5-0 start would be CSUSM's best in program history.

COUGARS AGAINST THE OREDIGGERS

• Thursday's meeting between CSUSM and Colorado School of Mines will be the third time in four years as they previously had a series against each other in 2022 and 2024, all in San Marcos.
• Last year, the Orediggers took two out of three games.
• Mines began the season with a 1-3 start in a four-game series at Southwestern Oklahoma State and avoided the sweep with an 11-5 win in the series finale. They fell in the first three games by score of 8-3, 18-7 and 5-2.
• The Orediggers turned five double plays in the opening weekend of action, ranking third in the country.
• Offensively, Mines is hitting .306 with 5.8 runs per game, a .476 slugging percentage and a .377 on-base percentage.
• Defensively, the Orediggers have a 7.76 ERA, a 1.86 WHIP and an .891 fielding percentage.
• Alex Dunagan has the nation's second-best batting average at .727 with eight hits, a 1.182 slugging percentage and a .750 on-base percentage.
• Following Thursday's game, Mines will head down to Point Loma for a three-game series beginning on Friday.

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 51-46 (.526).