RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University will make its long-awaited 2020 season debut this weekend, with a four-game series at the University of the Pacific starting Friday and running through Monday.

The Lancers find themselves with a target on their back going into year two of their NCAA Division I and Western Athletic Conference membership. It's thanks in large part to CBU winning a share of the WAC's 2019 regular-season title, with a 35-20 and 19-8 league record.

A successful follow-up season for CBU is dependent on a lot of new faces for the Lancers after they lost 20 letterwinners and nine starters, including five of their six All-WAC players from 2019. It's also a relatively young group, as the 35-man roster is made up of 19 underclassmen, including 12 freshmen.

Pitching was a key strength for CBU in 2019, as it posted a 3.80 earned-run average and .235 batting average against as a staff. The Lancers will likely lean on their offense early on this year after they lost Logan Rinehart and Andrew Bash after their junior seasons to the Major League Baseball Draft and graduated other starters Travis Booth and Angel Delgado.

CBU does return seven field players who appeared in at least 29 games and made 18 starts last year, including five who started in at least 34 games. Six of them hit .250 or better last year: Chad Castillo (.335), John Glenn (.314), Jeff Bruyntjens (.297), Nick Plaia (.278), Rory Smith (.257) and Damon Keith (.250).

SERIES INFORMATION
Opponent: Pacific
Dates/Times: Friday, Feb. 14 (5 p.m.); Saturday, Feb. 15 (1 p.m.); Sunday, Feb. 16 (1 p.m.); Monday, Feb. 17 (12 p.m.)
Location: Klein Family Field (Stockton, Calif.)
Radio: CBULancers.com/radio

Pacific enters 2020 with an interim head coach after assistant Chris Rodriguez was promoted following the resignation of the previous head coach, Ryan Garko, on January 6. Garko, a former MLB player, resigned to accept a position on the Los Angeles Angels' coaching staff.

Garko spent the 2018-19 seasons at the Tigers' helm and led them to a 45-55 record. Pacific went 23-26 last year. The team finished eighth out of 10 teams in the West Coast Conference standings with a 10-16 league run.

Pacific was picked to finish last in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll. Four Tigers earned All-WCC honors last season, but return just one in All-Freshman selection James Arakawa. The infielder finished third on the team last year in batting average (.304), hits (41) and stolen bases (2). Also finished fourth in runs (30), fifth in slugging percentage (.356), and sixth in OPS (.731) and total bases (48). 

Notables:

• Pacific posted a winning record of 13-10 at home last season.
• This series will mark the second-ever meeting between the Lancers and Tigers.
• CBU won the first series versus Pacific in Riverside, 3-1, outscoring the Tigers 24-16 overall.
• The Tigers batted .259 and slugged .350 last season, while posting a 4.64 ERA and .266 batting average against as a pitching staff.