CSUSB baseball team loses in region final; Point Loma advances to NCAA Division II tourney

Cal State San Bernardino’s 2026 baseball season came within a whisker of going deeper into the NCAA Division II baseball championship tournament but fell just short, losing to No. 4-ranked Point Loma Nazarene, 10-9 in 10 innings in the championship game of the West Regional on Friday, May 22.

The Coyotes finished the season with a 29-27 record but went 6-2 in the post-season, sweeping the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament in four games and winning two games at the regional over rival Cal Poly Pomona and host PLNU in the double elimination tournament.

Point Loma Nazarene, the Pacific West Conference champion (49-11) went on to defeat Northwest Nazarene of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in two games at their Super Regional, also played at PLNU this week, by scores of 5-3 and 6-3 to advance to the NCAA Division II World Series in Cary, N.C. on May 30 where they will play Catawba (47-11) in the first game of the double elimination tournament.

“Coming into the season we were excited about the team, especially the pitching and offense,” said CSUSB Head Coach Mike Nadeau. “There was a glimpse of something good.”

Slow start turns into playoff surge

Unfortunately, the Coyotes got off to a 1-7 start to the season and were 4-11 after rival Cal Poly Pomona beat them four times in the first series of CCAA games.

Next came a 10-game winning streak and suddenly CSUSB had a 15-12 record.

“During our 10-game win streak we finally found some pieces we could work with and we came together. Garret Barto was one. Dominic Dominguez and other guys found ways to help us in pitching and offense. We were maturing,” Nadeau said.

Boy, did they.

Coyotes’ offense powers postseason run

Barto finished the season batting .411, the fourth-best average for a single season in the Coyotes record book. He contributed a team-best 69 hits with 20 home runs (No. 2 on the single-season record list), and 59 runs batted in.

Dominguez, a Victorville product, batted .351 with 68 hits, 18 home runs and 66 RBI, No. 2 on the CSUSB record list.

Freshman Tyson Pettingill hit .394 with 52 runs scored, 11 doubles, 11 home runs and 54 RBI and was named the CCAA Freshman of the Year.

Jeremy Geisegh batted .314 in 55 games, scored 68 runs with 13 doubles, 14 homers and 54 RBI.

As a team, the Coyotes batted .328 in 56 games, banging out 638 hits, including 101 doubles, nine triples, 104 home runs that produced 475 runs batted in and a team on-base percentage of .436.

Dominguez was placed on the all-CCAA second team, but made the first-team all-West Region and was named a third-team all-American. Nine players made the all-CCAA conference teams. Four made the all-West Region team.

“Heading into the conference tournament we knew some guys had to step up, not just rely on our top four players,” Nadeau said of the playoff surge that saw the Coyotes win six of eight playoff games and make the region finals.

In that stretch they beat rival Cal Poly Pomona three times, including back-to-back wins to take the conference tournament title for the first time since 2002.

Keedan Nadeau emerges as playoff catalyst

One of those guys, as it turns out, was his son Keedan, a sophomore who played his high school ball at Citrus Valley High in Redlands, graduating in 2024.

“He was crazy good the second half of the season and in the playoffs in the middle our lineup and was often a catalyst that got us going,” father Mike Nadeau said.

“As a centerfielder he is one of the best in the conference with his speed. It was fun to watch him and the others on the team flip the switch in the post-season.”

Over the course of eight playoff games (four in the CCAA and four in the NCAA tournament), Keedan had 11 hits in 29 at bats (.379 average), with two home runs, a triple and three doubles, 11 RBI and 14 runs scored.

For the season Keedan hit .341 in 53 games (45 starts) with 60 hits, 46 runs scored, 10 doubles, four triples, five homers and 30 RBI with 19 steals in 21 attempts.

In centerfield, he handled 128 chances with 119 putouts and six assists and just two errors (.977 fielding percentage).

Grand slam highlights regional showdown

In the 19-13 loss to Point Loma in game one of their three-game series, Keedan blasted a grand-slam homer in the bottom of the first inning to give the Coyotes an early 4-2 lead in what turned out to be a slugfest.

“There were two out and a 3-2 count on me and their best guy was on the mound and he throws a lot of fastballs. I connected and the ball quickly went deep and I watched the outfielder go back to the fence and leap for it but it was gone,” said Keedan.

“It was a great moment and I was really excited.”

Asked about making the transition from high school ball to college when he enrolled at CSUSB in 2024-25, Keedan said, “The transition was difficult. Everybody in college is good, whereas in high school some guys are good but others not so much.”

Keedan is headed to Bend, Ore. to spend the summer playing with the Bend Elks in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. Other teams in the league include Springfield, Corvallis, Portland and Marion in Oregon; Ridgefield, Yakima Valley and Walla Walla in Washington as well as Kelowna and Nanaimo in British Columbia.

Extra-inning loss ends historic season

CSUSB beat Point Loma in game two of their series 5-2 as Alejandro McKay, Dominguez and Barto homered to give the Coyotes a 4-0 lead midway through the game. Keedan provided an insurance run in the eighth when his sacrifice fly sent Pettingill home from third base.

In the deciding game of the series, Keedan was 3-for-4 with a double and scored three runs.

Geisegh had two home runs, a double and six RBI for the Coyotes as they led 9-8 heading to the ninth inning.

PLNU pushed across a run to send the game to extra innings.

With one out in the 10th, PLNU’s Tyler Stull singled, Josiah Rodriguez reached on an error by CSUSB shortstop Eddie Alfaro and Hank Smith hit into a fielder’s choice for the second out.

Tommy Molina singled to left to bring in Stull with what proved to be the winning run.

In the bottom of the 10th, Dominguez was hit by a pitch and Greg Luna’s bunt sacrifice moved him to second base.

Pettingill and Rodriguez both lined out to centerfield to end the game and the Coyotes’ season.