Cuesta Baseball shall open the week at home, before spending the rest of the week in Costa Mesa. The Cougars host the Reedley Tigers on Tuesday (2 PM) and, after their inter-regional catfight, shall spend three days in Orange County. The Cougars and Pirates shall play a three game series on Thursday (1 PM), Friday (1 PM) and Saturday (Noon). The Pirates, who won the CCCAA State Championship in 2019, have won eight of their 12 games against the COugars,since re-booting the series in 2022. This season's match-up may be the first time that neither team is listed in the CCCBCA Pre-season Rankings. The Cougars, who reached the Super Regionals last season, begin this season chasing their seventh straight post-season, while the Bucs missed playoffs last season.
Last week, the Cougars made a rare trip to the CCCAA Northern Regional for a two-game series at Los Medanos. The Cougars split with the host Mustangs, while taking Friday's opener, 3-1, before falling on Saturday, 8-1. Sophomore Starter
Chase Viale was in peak form in the opener and scattered three hits over six shutout innings, before handing the game off to the bullpen. On Saturday, Cuesta Starter
Brady Rea and joined the Mustangs'
Brent Cacciola and
Blaine Welte for a pitcher's duel that lasted until the seventh inning stretch. The Mustangs held the lead, 2-1, after six innings, but the Cougars called the bullpen after the stretch and eventually settled for a series split, after the loss, 8-1.
Cuesta is now 1-4 on the season, which equals their starts both last year and their 2022 Playoff season.
