Former CVHS baseball player played key role in CSUSB winning CCAA championship on May 9

Keedan Nadeau proved his worth to the Cal State San Bernardino baseball team with key hits and stolen bases as the Coyotes won the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament title on Saturday, May 9.

The Citrus Valley High 2024 graduate and sophomore at CSUSB helped the Coyotes go 4-0 in the tournament with victories over NCAA West Region No. 1 Cal State Monterey Bay, No. 3 Cal Poly Pomona (twice) and No. 6 Cal State Los Angeles.

CSUSB, the No. 6 seed, opened play in the NCAA Division II West Regional on Thursday, May 14, against CCAA rival Cal Poly Pomona, seeded No. 3, at Carroll B. Land Ballpark at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego.

Nadeau continued his contribution to CSUSB victories, driving in a run with as sacrifice fly to enable the Coyotes to gain a 4-4 tie in the fifth inning of their NCAA West Regional tournament opener against Cal Poly Pomona. The Coyotes added two runs in the sixth to win the game 6-4 and advance to Friday's semifinal against host Point Loma Nazarene University at noon.

Nadeau, a centerfielder for the Coyotes, was a factor in all four wins as CSUSB improved its record to 27-25.

In the 12-4 win over Cal State L.A., Nadeau blasted a two-run homer and was 3-for-3 at the plate.

In the 11-9 win over Monterey Bay, Nadeau went 2-for-4 with a triple, a sacrifice fly and two runs batted in.

Trailing 1-0 to Cal Poly Pomona in the sixth inning of their semifinals game at Fiscalini Field in San Bernardino, Nadeau walked, stole second and scored on a base hit by Jeremy Giesegh to tie the game at 1-1. CSUSB added two runs in the eighth to beat the Broncos 3-1.

In the tournament title game on May 9, Nadeau had three hits in five plate appearances. With the score tied at 6-6 in the sixth inning, Nadeau led off with an infield single, stole second and scored the winning run on a double by Benji Solano. The Coyotes added two insurance runs later for the 9-6 victory.

Nadeau, a centerfielder, is hitting .333 for the season in 49 games, 41 of them as a starter. He has four homers, four triples, nine doubles, 41 runs scored and 23 RBI and has stolen 18 bases in 19 attempts.

He comes from an athletic family. His father, Mike, the head coach at CSUSB, played baseball at George Fox University and played in the Baltimore Orioles minor league system. His mother, Heather, was a pitcher for Oregon State University.

His older sister, Ella, played for CVHS, leading the team her senior year of 2021 in hitting (.582), homers (3), runs scored (28), hits (32), RBI (26), with a .963 slugging percentage as the Blackhawks finished the season 13-8 (7-3 in the Citrus Belt League).

She played softball at Stanford University, but four knee surgeries curtailed her playing career there. She graduated in four years with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is an athletic trainer for a Stanford-based company.