Baseball opened the 2023 season last weekend in Riverside with a three-game series against the Tigers.  The Cougars, ranked #10 in the pre-season poll, began their season against the poll's #1 team in the State, Riverside.  Cuesta went right after Tigers and scored three runs in their first at-bat of the season.  Riverside countered with a pair of runs in their first at-bat but went silent until they posted a futile six runs in their bottom of the 9th of a 12-8 Cuesta win.  Freshman Righthander Jackson Cloud earned the season-opening nod and collected five strikeouts in his five innings of work for the win.  On Saturday, Sophomore Southpaw Justin Vose took the hill for Game 2 and allowed only one hit, while fanning five Tigers over five innings for the win, 12-2.   Riverside rallied in the series finale as the Cougars opened up their bullpen in a 10-innning loss, 7-6.  The final game of the series was a free-for-all that saw four lead changes.  The two teams used 28 players including 10 pitchers, and also combined five errors, six doubles, seven stolen bases and six sacrifice hits in an action-packed final act.  Six Cougars took the mound in the game, however Sophomore Robert Mansour, who began the game at Shortstop, was saddled with the loss.  The Cougars are 2-1 on the year.  

Cuesta is back home this week for a three-game series against #19 Orange Coast.  The Cougars and Pirates play at 1 PM on both Thursday and Friday and at Noon on Saturday.