SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The CSUSB baseball team claimed their first-ever win in an NCAA Division II Tournament game on Thursday afternoon, defeating Western Oregon by a score of 8-7. Their last win in an NCAA Tournament came on May 23, 1991, when they defeated Methodist University in the DIII College World Series, 32 years ago. It was also their 39
th win of the season, extending their program win record and putting them one win away from 40 victories on the season.
In addition to all of the team milestones being set,
Austyn Coleman claimed one of his own: becoming the winningest pitcher in CSUSB baseball history. With his 18th career win, Coleman passed Jim Allen (1995-98) for most wins by a pitcher in Cal State San Bernardino history. His nine wins on the season also leads the entire west region and ranks fourth in all of NCAA Division II this year.
The Yotes offense continued to swing the bats well at Fiscalini Field, hitting three no-doubt home runs off the bats of
Giovanni Del Negro,
DeShawn Johnson, and
Danny Garcia. After the Yotes regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Del Negro RBI groundout, Garcia hit a clutch double down the right field line to give them insurance. Then in the eighth inning, CSUSB added on one more when
Takuto Kataoka drove in a run on a pinch-hit single with two outs.
The Yotes collected 8 RBI in the game, making them the first team in program history to record more than 400 RBI in a season. In 2023, the offense has now broken the program hit, run, and RBI records. They are also just nine home runs away from breaking the school home run record, set in 1997.
Oscar Rauda picked up his nation-leading 13th save of the season against the Wolves. Despite allowing two runs to score and the tying run to get to second base, Rauda closed the door to help give CSUSB their first NCAA Tournament win in over three decades, and their first-ever in their DII era.
Up Next
The Yotes will face the Azusa Pacific Cougars tomorrow, May 19
th, at 3:00 PM. Since there are only two teams remaining and both teams are 1-0, the rest of the West Regional essentially turns into a best-of-3 series. This means the first team to get two wins will advance to the Super Regionals.
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