SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Making its second consecutive CCAA Tournament appearance, the sixth-seeded Cal State San Marcos team will begin the tournament with an elimination game against third-seeded San Francisco State at noon on Wednesday at Reeder Field on the campus of Cal State LA.
 
LAST WEEKEND

• CSUSM's postseason aspirations came down to the final game of the regular season at Cal State San Bernardino.
• The Cougars fell 14-7 and 15-7 in the first two games before collecting wins of 9-7 and 11-8 to earn the series split and the final spot in the CCAA Tournament.
• Phoenix Sommay led the Cougars a .421 batting average, eight hits and 10 RBIs for the series.

 
ALL-CCAA HONOREES

• The Cougars earned three All-CCAA selections with Nolan Long being named to the second team while Jack Clark and Fisher Pyatt were named honorable mentions.
• CSUSM now has 36 All-CCAA selections since its first season of conference play in 2016 and has earned at least three selections every year since 2022.

 
COUGARS BY THE NUMBERS

• The Cougars have been hit by the most pitches in the CCAA this season at 85 with Phoenix Sommay taking the most in the conference at 21.
• Cougar batters have walked 208 times this season, ranking second in the conference and fourth for a single season at CSUSM.
• CSUSM has laid down the second-most sacrifice bunts in the CCAA and ranks 13th nationally with 40.
• CSUSM pitchers are tallying 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking second in the conference. Their 352 total strikeouts are the second most for a single season in team history and are 13 off the program record of 365 set in 2015.
• The Cougars are scoring the fourth-most runs in the CCAA at 6.6 per game.
• CSUSM's on-base percentage of .386 ranks fourth in the league while its .436 slugging percentage ranks fifth.
• The Cougars have hit the fifth-most homers in the conference this season with 54, ranking fourth for a single season in program history.
• Fisher Pyatt's 0.24 home runs per game rank sixth in the CCAA.
• CSUSM's 10 saves for the season are tied for the fourth most in program history and are just one shy of the program record.
• Nolan Long's seven saves rank second among CCAA pitchers.
• Ethan Rivera is the fifth-toughest player to strikeout in the CCAA at 12.0 at-bats between strikeouts.
• CSUSM is still searching for its first postseason win in the program's Division II era (2016-present) after going a combined 0-4 at last year's CCAA Tournament and NCAA West Regional – its first appearance in either tournament.

SIXTH-SEEDED COUGARS VS. THIRD-SEEDED GATORS

• This will be the second straight year in which the CSUSM and SF State have met in an elimination game at the CCAA Tournament as the Gators eliminated the Cougars in extra innings on the second day of the tournament last season.
• In their season series in March, CSUSM won the series opener at SF State before the Gators won the series by taking the final three games.
• In the past two season, CSUSM is 5-4 against SF State in all games played against each other.
• The Gators finished the regular season with a 30-19 overall record while tying for second in the CCAA standings at 25-15.
• In the CCAA, SF State ranks second in batting average (.333), second in scoring (8.0), second in WHIP (1.43), second in slugging (.512), second in on-base percentage (.417) and third in ERA (5.33).
• Daniel Murillo has the third-best batting average in the conference at .402 while Michael Cunningham's 16 lead the league.
• On the mound, Nathan Shinn had the CCAA's third-best ERA at 2.84 while tallying the third-most strikeouts at 71. He leads the conference with eight wins this season.

 
TOP-SEEDED OTTERS

• Should CSUSM get past SF State in Wednesday's elimination game, it would face top-seeded Cal State Monterey Bay in the double-elimination portion of the bracket on Thursday at 11 a.m.
• Winning the CCAA Regular-Season Championship for the fourth consecutive season, the Otters ended the regular season with an overall record of 33-16 while going 26-14 in conference play.
• CSUSM split its regular-season series against then-No. 24 CSUMB on the road in mid-April.
• Since 2023, the Cougars are 7-5 against the Otters.
• CSUMB leads the CCAA in ERA (4.37), home runs (70) and WHIP (1.31) while ranking third in batting average (.309), on-base percentage (.394) and slugging (.509).
• KW Quilici has the fourth-best batting average in the CCAA at .390 with the second-most hits at 78.
• Mitchell Torres has the league's sixth-best ERA at 3.78 while Nathan Rohlicek has the second-most strikeouts with 73.

 
SECOND-SEEDED TOROS

• Cal State Dominguez Hills enters the CCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed, winning the tiebreaker against SF State.
• The Toros ended the regular season with a 29-20 overall record while going 25-15 in conference play.
• CSUSM fell in three of four games against CSUDH to begin CCAA play on Feb. 21-23.
• The Cougars are 21-19 all-time against the Toros.
• In the CCAA, CSUDH ranks fourth in scoring, fourth in slugging (.460), fifth in WHIP (1.59), fifth in ERA (5.76), eighth in batting average (.286), and 10th in on-base percentage (.365).
• Justin Abercrombie has the CCAA's top ERA at 2.42 and ranks fourth in strikeouts at 69.
• Dylan Schumacher leads the Toros with a .361 batting average, 57 hits and 12 doubles for the year.

 
FOURTH-SEEDED GOLDEN EAGLES

• Serving as this year's CCAA Tournament host, fourth-seeded Cal State LA ended the regular season with a 26-24 overall record while going 23-17 in conference play.
• Like CSUSM and SF State, the Golden Eagles will play a single elimination game against fifth-seeded Chico State on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
• CSUSM and LA split their season series on Feb. 28-March 2, playing at ELAC Baseball Field in Monterey Park due to field issues at Cal State LA.
• The Cougars hold a 19-17 lead in the all-time series against the Golden Eagles and are 5-3 in the last two seasons against them.
• In the CCAA, LA ranks fourth in ERA (5.74), fifth in batting average (.292), sixth in on-base percentage (.375), sixth in slugging (.412) and eighth in WHIP (1.69).
• Brandon Gutierrez is the Golden Eagles' ERA leader at 4.11 and has held opponents to a .257 clip.
• Offensively, Malik Clayton has a team-best .371 batting average.

 
FIFTH-SEEDED WILDCATS

• As the fifth seed, Chico State ended the regular season with a 29-20 overall record while going 22-18 in CCAA play.
• The Cougars and Wildcats split their season series in San Marcos on April 25-27 as CSUSM won the final two games of the series. It was the first time CSUSM and Chico had met on the Cougars' home field since 2018.
• Over the past two seasons, CSUSM and Chico are an even 4-4 against each other.
• In the CCAA, the Wildcats rank second in ERA (4.80), third in WHIP (1.47), fourth in batting average (.296), fifth in on-base percentage (.377), seventh in scoring (6.1) and ninth in slugging (.398).
• Phoenix Casias and Troy Kent rank sixth and seventh in the CCAA with batting averages of .378 and .375, respectively.
• With an 8-1 record, Evan Tomlinson has the conference's eighth-best ERA at 4.31 while only recording 24 strikeouts in a team-high 71.0 innings.

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 72-68 (.514).