By Aaron Salazar
 
POMONA, Calif. – The Cal Poly Pomona baseball team will return to action this weekend with a four-game series scheduled against the Cal State San Marcos Cougars beginning on Friday in San Marcos.
 
The Green and Gold enter the week with an 11-6 record on the season and a 3-3 record in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play after dropping two of three games to the Sonoma State Seawolves over the weekend. The Broncos' record currently has them sitting as the No. 7 team in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) West Region poll.
 
The Cougars, who are in their first year as a member of the CCAA, enter the week with a 10-10 overall record and a 1-6 mark in the CCAA after dropping three of four to the Cal State San Bernardino Coyotes last weekend.
 
The first pitch for Friday's game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Game times for Saturday's doubleheader are 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. The series will return to San Marcos on Sunday for the final game with the first pitch scheduled for noon.
 
The series between the Broncos and the Cougars will mark the first ever meeting between the two southern California teams even though they are less than 100 miles from each other.
 
The Broncos' offense is being paced by senior outfielder Jared James. James has reached safely in every game the Broncos have played in thus far. In addition to that, he leads the team in average (.386), slugging percentage (.702), RBIs (17), home runs (5) and total bases (40). James' home run total is good for second in the CCAA. Junior second baseman Chris Stratton was also able to extend his hitting streak to seven games in the series with Sonoma State.
 
The Broncos' pitching staff continues to do a solid job as junior Ryan Olson leads the team and the CCAA conference in earned run average with an era of 1.27. Junior Tyler Rowe is not too far behind as he has posted an era of 1.31, respectively.
 
The Broncos will remain in Southern California after this series to take on another CCAA foe, the UC San Diego Tritons. The series is scheduled for four-games beginning on March 19 and ending on March 21. The games on Friday and Sunday will take place at Scolinos Field in Pomona. Saturday's doubleheader will be played at Triton Ballpark in La Jolla.