SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The fifth-seeded Cal State San Marcos baseball team (27-19) will make its first-ever appearance at the NCAA Division II West Regional taking place Thursday through Saturday at host and top-seeded Point Loma (40-10-1). The Cougars will open play by facing fourth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona (31-22) on Thursday at 11 a.m. at Carroll B. Land Stadium.

CSUSM students, faculty and staff will receive free admission for the NCAA West Regional with a valid CSUSM ID when checking at the CSUSM pass list table.
 
LAST WEEK

• CSUSM made its first-ever appearance in the CCAA Tournament taking place at Cal Poly Pomona.
• Entering the tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Cougars fell 10-3 to the third-seeded Broncos before being eliminated in 10 innings by fourth-seeded San Francisco State by a score of 10-9 on Thursday.
• Garrett Teunissen was named the CCAA Player of the Year while teammates Preston Kelly, Luke Reece and Phoenix Sommay joined him on the All-CCAA first team. Ethan Rivera was named to the second team while Cameron Mahaffy was an honorable mention.
• Head coach Jose Garcia was named the CCAA Coach of the Year in just his second season at the helm of the program.

NCBWA WEST ALL-REGION TEAM

• Five Cougars were named to the NCBWA All-West Region Team on Wednesday.
• Luke Reece earned first-team honors while Garrett Teunissen and Preston Kelly were named to the second team. Ethan Rivera and Phoenix Sommay were honorable mentions.
• This is the first time CSUSM has had student-athletes earn NCBWA All-West Region honors since 2019.

 
COUGAR FACTS

• This will be CSUSM's first NCAA regional appearance.
• Should the Cougars win the Point Loma regional, they would face the winner of the other West Regional consisting of second-seeded Cal State Monterey Bay, third-seeded Northwest Nazarene and sixth-seeded San Francisco State in the NCAA West Super Regional on May 25-26.
• CSUSM is experiencing its best season in the Division II era (2016-present).
• CSUSM's .318 team batting average is the third best among CCAA schools.
• The Cougars have the best on-base percentage (.425) and slugging percentage (.497) in the CCAA.
• Scoring 8.2 runs per game, CSUSM leads the conference and ranks 39th nationally.
• CSUSM has put down a team-record 53 sacrifice bunts this season to ranks sixth in the nation.
• Cougar batters have been hit by a program-record 106 pitches this season to rank 13th in Division II
• CSUSM has turned the 19th-most double plays in the nation at 44 while its average of 0.96 per game ranks seventh.
• Garrett Teunissen and Ethan Rivera have the CCAA's second- and third-best batting averages at .380 and .375, respectively.
• Teunissen has laid down the fifth-most sacrifice bunt in the nation this season with 12, tying the program's single-season record.
• Teunissen is also the CCAA's stolen base leader with 22 for the year.
• Phoenix Sommay has reached base in 41 consecutive games – the third-longest streak in program history and two shy of the program record. He has reached base in all but one game this season.
• Sommay broke the program's single-season record by getting hit by a pitch for the 21st time this season last weekend.
• Ethan Rivera ranks 17th nationally with seven sac flies this season.
• Preston Kelly's seven saves lead the CCAA and rank 29th nationally.
• Nolan Long has the second-best strikeouts per nine innings in the CCAA at 9.31 and has the seventh-best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.33.
• Long tied for the third-most strikeouts in program history at 156 and is 17 shy of tying the program's all-time record.

COUGARS MEET THE BRONCOS AGAIN

• Thursday's meeting between CSUSM and CPP will be the sixth of the season.
• The Cougars and Broncos split the season series at two games each before CPP won last week's CCAA Tournament game.
• The Broncos proceeded to fall 5-4 in 10 innings against eventual tournament champion Cal State Monterey Bay before being eliminated by a score of 5-4 against San Francisco State.
• This will be the first-ever meeting between CPP and CSUSM at a neutral site.
• CPP will be making its 16th NCAA Tournament appearance and the eighth in the past nine seasons.
• The Broncos went to Cal State Monterey Bay's 2023 West Regional, defeating Point Loma before falling in back-to-back games against the Otters.
• CPP's team batting average of .308 ranks fifth among CCAA schools while its 4.69 team ERA is the best in the conference.
• The Broncos have Division II's ninth-best fielding percentage at .975.
• CPP pitching is allowing the 11th-fewest walks per nine innings in the nation at 3.21 and has the 20th-best WHIP at 1.38.
• Johnny Pappas and Jack Sanders lead the Broncos' offensive charge with batting averages of .358 and .353, respectively.
• Sanders' six triples for the years rank 12th nationally.
• Caleb Reyes has the 14th-best ERA in Division II at 2.47 and ranks 21st in WHIP at 1.02.

 
THE HOST SEA LIONS

• Should CSUSM face Point Loma at some point during the regional, it would be the first meeting since a four-game home-and-home series between the Cougars and Sea Lions in 2015.
• The Cougars lead the Sea Lions 10-9-1 in the all-time series and are 7-7-1 when playing at Point Loma.
• PLNU came in at No. 4 in last week's NCBWA Division II Top 25 poll.
• The Sea Lions won the PacWest Tournament for the first time this past weekend after falling in their first game before winning four consecutive elimination games to claim the championship.
• This will be PLNU's third straight NCAA regional appearance and sixth overall.
• The Sea Lions have the nation's third-best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.07 and are allowing the second-fewest walks per nine innings at 2.34.
• PLNU's 9.77 fielding percentage ranks sixth in nation.
• Offensively, the Sea Lions' .321 team batting average ranks 37th nationally.
• Scott Anderson ranks 38th nationally with a team-best batting average of .414 and has the 26th-most RBIs at 66.
• On the mound, Dylan Miller has a team-best 3.41 ERA and ranks 34th nationally with 84 strikeouts this season.
• Reliever James Sashin leads all of Division II with 16 saves this season.

COUGAR OUTLOOK

• CSUSM will field a roster of 36 this season with nine returners and 27 newcomers.
• The Cougars' pitching staff is made up of 16 arms, including 12 right-handers and four southpaws.
• CSUSM will have 22 position players to choose from, including two two-way players.
• Of the Cougars' roster of 36, all but seven are upperclassmen.
• Returners Luke Reece and Preston Kelly each earned All-CCAA honors last season as Reece was named to the second team while Kelly was an honorable mention.
• CSUSM was selected to finish ninth in the 2024 CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.

THE GARCIA FILE

• Head Coach Jose Garcia enters his second season in San Marcos after taking over the CSUSM baseball program on Aug. 1, 2022.
• 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.