The Highlanders (19-27, 7-11) are at Cal State Fullerton (32-16, 14-4) for a Big West series this weekend.
Since their first meeting in 1978, the Titans are 31-17 against the Highlanders with a 19-4 mark at their home field (14-3 at Goodwin Field). Fullerton has won the past eight meetings dating back to the 2009 season. Prior to that streak, Riverside had won 13 of the 20 previous meetings with nine of those wins coming in Riverside. Since the Highlanders joined the Big West in 2002, the Titans have a 17-13 edge in the series.

TODAY, 7 p.m.
CSF - RHP Dylan Floro (8-3, 2.79 ERA) vs. UCR - RHP Eddie Orozco (5-5, 2.48 ERA)
SATURDAY, 6 p.m.
CSF - LHP Kenny Mathews (5-1, 3.89 ERA) vs. UCR - RHP Trevor Frank (1-7, 4.02 ERA)
SUNDAY, 6 p.m.
CSF - RHP Grahamm Wiest (5-3, 2.55 ERA) vs. UCR - LHP Dylan Stuart (6-6, 4.18 ERA)

Senior Chad Hall was not one of the eight UC Riverside athletes to qualify for next week's first round of the NCAA track and field championships. Coach Irv Ray said he thought Hall's 10,000-meter time of 29:54.71, ran earlier this season, would be enough to get Hall into the first round, but it was less than a second off the top 48 regional qualifiers.

"He's disappointed," Ray said, adding the slow, tactical race at this past weekend's Big West championships didn't help. Hall won the 10,000 race, but his time of 31:32.81 wasn't impressive. Previously, conference champions earned automatic berths to the NCAA first round, but that rule has changed.

"We just tried to win," Ray said of the conference meet.

Hall will run the 1,500 meters in two weeks at a meet at UCLA and try to qualify for the Olympic Trials, Ray said. He'll also return to Big Bear and train with his brother Ryan, an Olympic marathon runner.

California Baptist University has earned a spot in the semifinals of the 2012 National Christian College Athletic Association World Series and will play Friday, May 18, at 5 p.m. (Pacific).

The Lancers, winners of Pool B on a tiebreaker, will play the runner-up from Pool A Olivet Nazarene in the second semifinal. Oklahoma Wesleyan and Emmanuel play in the first semifinal at 2 p.m. (Pacific).

CBU (41-13) clinched a spot in the semifinals on Thursday with a 5-3 win over defending national champion Oklahoma Wesleyan, which is coached by former Lancer assistant coach Matt Parker. However, with Oklahoma Wesleyan's 8-2 win over Bluefield this morning, the Lancers clinched first place in the pool, winning both possible tiebreakers---head-to-head with OWU or in the case of a three-way tie, allowing the fewest runs per inning of anyone in the pool.

When the day started Mid-Continent was also 2-1 in the pool and had a shot at advancing but needed OWU to give up at least seven runs to have a shot.

Meanwhile, Olivet Nazarene was 3-0 heading into its final pool play game this morning where it got beat 15-6 by Evangel, which clinched a semifinal berth with the victory.

The winners of Friday's games advance to tomorrow's championship, which will be at 10 a.m. (Pacific).

All three remaining games can be watched live on the internet through the NCCAA.

UC Riverside will send eight athletes to the first round of the NCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships on May 24-26 at the University of Texas.

On the women's side Ashley Gatewood is ranked 16th in the region in the javelin (49.22m) and 40th in the hammer (57.62m) while Damajeria Dubose is 32nd in the 1500m (4:24.41), Deja Watkins is 35th in the discus (50.39m) and Raquel Hefflin is 40th in the 800m (2:08.25)

For the men, Caleb Stuart is 10th in the hammer (63.10m) while Ryan Swafford is tied for 14th in the triple jump (15.77m), Travis Smith is 17th in the shot put (18.29m) and Ted Hooper is tied for 26th in the long jump (7.53m).

Texas's Mike A. Myers Stadium is the site of this year's West Preliminary Round with North Florida's Hodges Stadium hosting the East Preliminary Round.

The top 12 finishers in each event advance to the NCAA Championships on June 6-9 at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa.

The CCCAA state track and field championships begin Friday, May 18, at Cerritos College and San Bernardino Valley's Shanice Stewart may be the busiest person in the place.

The freshman our of Carter High has already set school records in the heptathlon, javelin, 100-meter hurdles, and has the top five school marks in the shot put, high jump, and long jump.

Stewart will compete in the seven-event heptathlon and in the long jump and 100 meter hurdles on Friday and Saturday. She finished third at the SoCal Finals in the heptathlon with 4605 points, and won the SoCal title in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 13.93. Her long jump mark of 19-9 is tops on the performance list.

The SBVC women's team finished 15th at the SoCal Finals with 26 points, all scored by Stewart -- first place finish in the 100 meter hurdles, first place finish in the long jump, and third place finish in the heptathlon.

Devyn Rivera threw his first shutout of the season and Andy Crowley had two hits and two RBI to lead California Baptist University to a 5-0 win over Bluefield in the opening game of Pool B at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) World Series Wednesday afternoon. The win moves the Lancers to 39-12 overall and 1-0 in the pool. They play again at 5 p.m. (Pacific) against Malone, which lost 8-0 to Oklahoma Wesleyan this morning.

Bluefield drops to 31-28 overall, 0-1 in pool play.

After giving up three hits in the first two innings, Rivera settled in and dominated until the Lancer bats awoke. He scattered six hits and allowed just one walk, which came with two outs in the seventh. He struck out seven for his second career shutout.

"Devyn did a great job limiting free bases today," said CBU Head Coach Gary Adcock. "When he's throwing well, he keeps his free base count down and that's the key to his success."

Rivera (6-1) also benefited from two strong defensive plays. With a runner on third with two outs in the first, Andy Riley tried to score when a ball squirted by catcher Ryan Douglass, but Douglass tracked it down and tossed it to Rivera covering home to get Riley to end the inning.

Then, with a scoreless game in the third, Bluefield threatened after putting runners at second and third with two outs, but Cole Bullard made a spectacular diving play up the middle to rob Zach Myers of a hit and keep the game scoreless.

The Lancers finally tacked on a run in the fourth and fifth before putting the game away with three in the sixth. After Blair Moore hit a one-out double in the fourth and Matt Daugherty singled, Crowley hit a single up the middle to bring in Moore with the game's first run.

Douglass then led off the fifth with a single through the left side, and courtesy runner Andrew Montoya later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

In the sixth, Daughtery hit a one-out triple, his third hit of the day, and scored on a Crowley double down the right field line. Cole Bullard drew a walk before Crowley advanced to third on a flyout by Zach Esquerra. On the same play, Crowley scored from third when the shorstop's toss back to pitcher Ethan Lewis sailed over his head and far enough away to let Crowley score.

Bullard scored on Douglass's second hit of the game.

Daugherty was 3 for 3, while Crowley and Douglass were both 2 for 3. The Lancers had nine hits.

Four UC Riverside softball players earned All-Conference honors. Outfielder Kayla White was named first-team while Alexis Pickett was selected to the second team, and Ariel Shore and Kaylie Atkinson both received honorable mention.

The four selections are the most for UCR since the 2006 squad also placed four on the three All-Conference teams.

White earned her second consecutive All-Big West First-Team honor, leading the UC Riverside squad in batting average, slugging percentage, runs, hits, RBI, doubles, triples, stolen bases and total bases while finishing second in on base percentage, home runs, and walks. The junior is currently tied for first in triples in the Big West; third in RBI, stolen bases and doubles; fourth in runs and hits; sixth in batting average; and seventh in home runs.

Pickett earned her first Big West All-Conference honor, recording the second-highest batting average on the team. The junior catcher led the league by throwing out 16 base runners attempting to steal, and picked off the third-most runners. She also ranked among the top-5 on the squad in slugging percentage, on base percentage, hits, RBI, doubles, walks, and stolen bases.

Shore earned Honorable Mention accolades in the outfield for UC Riverside, ranking fourth in triples and stolen bases, sixth in runs, and ninth in hits in the Big West Conference. The junior was second on the squad in runs, hits, stolen bases and triples while finishing third in total bases, fourth in batting average, and fifth in on base percentage.

Atkinson garnered UCR's second Honorable Mention award of the 2012 season, making the team at the third base position. The freshman finished third on the team in home runs and was fourth in slugging percentage.

UC Riverside set Division I program records this season with 25 overall wins and eight victories in conference play. As a team, the Highlanders also led the Big West in triples and stolen bases while finishing second in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, and RBI.

The specialty awards were split among three institutions, as Pacific's Nikki Armagost was selected as the 2012 Offensive Player of the Year, and teammate Nicole Matson was named Defensive Player of the Year.

UC Davis' Justine Vela garnered both Pitcher of the Year and Freshman Pitcher of the Year awards, while UC Santa Barbara's Shelby Wisdom was named Freshman Field Player of the Year, and Gauchos Head Coach Brie Galicinao earned Coach of the Year honors.

Lacrosse athlete Megan Prickett (left) continued the University of Redlands' dominance in the weekly Performer of the Week balloting, with a close victory over RCC pole vaulter Amy Hop.

Prickett becomes Redlands' 14th winner in the 31 weeks of balloting, with one more weekly poll to go before the Performer of the Year balloting commences.

Here's her bio on the Redlands athletic website. Congratulations to Megan and the other nominees, Hop and RCC men's track athlete Kris Kirk.

And here's the school standings. With one week to go, Redlands seems poised to win going away over Cal Baptist.

1. Redlands, 56 nominees, 14 wins, 112 points (3940 total votes, 70.35 average per nominee)

2. Cal Baptist, 89 nominees, 3 wins, 101 points (1277, 14.34)

3. La Sierra, 33 nominees, 9 wins, 69 points (4813, 145.85)

4. RCC, 47 nominees, 1 win, 51 points (1311, 27.89)

5. UCR, 31 nominees, 1 win, 35 points (1759, 56.74)

6. Cal State San Bernardino, 20 nominees, 1 win, 24 points (601, 30.05)

7. SBVC, 12 nominees, 0 wins, 12 points (251, 20.91)

8. MSJC, 3 nominees, 1 win, 7 points (121, 40.33)

(Photo courtesy University of Redlands)

This week's nominees:

-- Megan Prickett, Redlands women's lacrosse. Prickett, a senior from Poway, contributed a strong effort for the Bulldog women's lacrosse team in the program's inaugural two NCAA Championship games last week. She scored three goals on three shots while providing one assist against Occidental College in the Bulldogs' first-round victory. She also pulled in five draw controls and caused one opponent turnover. Against the Catholic University of America (DC) in the second round, Prickett came up with three goals to lead the Maroon and Gray, to go along with one ground ball and one draw control.

-- Amy Hop, RCC women's track and field. Hop, a sophomore pole vaulter from Jurupa Valley, set another school record, personal record and meet record in the SoCal Championships on Saturday, winning the regional championship with a vault of 12 feet, 4 ½ inches. Her previous best was 11 feet, 11 inches.

-- Kris Kirk, RCC men's track and field. Kirk, a sophomore from Elsinore, was second in three events at the SoCal Championships, throwing 174 feet in the hammer, 52 feet in the shot put and 154 feet in the discus. He scored 24 of the Tigers' 200 points en route to their fourth regional title in five years. RCC will attempt to win its fourth state championship in five years at the state meet this Friday and Saturday at Cerritos College.

As always, poll closes at 11:30 p.m. This is the next-to-last Performer of the Week ballot of the school year; balloting for Performer of the Year will begin May 29.

For the first time in the history of the Pacific West Conference, the Commissioner's Cup will reside on the mainland. After four years of sunbathing and surfing in Hawaii, the Cup has a new home. California Baptist University has won the 2011-12 PacWest Commissioner's Cup.

On the strength of a PacWest Conference record six championships, CBU racked up 89.5 total points out of a possible 110 points. The Lancers' average of 8.950 was ahead of second place Grand Canyon, which tallied 91 total points for an 8.273 average. No other program was above a 7.000 average.

"Winning the Commissioner's Cup in our first year of PacWest competition is a tremendous accomplishment," said Director of Athletics Dr. Micah Parker. "We have hard working and talented coaches who get to work with a tremendous group of student athletes. Our coaches' ability to recruit, develop and mesh talent is the reason we are able to honor Christ through excellence in athletics."

The PacWest sponsors 11 sports, awarding 10 points to each conference champion. The Lancers won conference titles in baseball, men's and women's cross country, softball and men's and women's soccer in their first year in the conference.

Hawaii Pacific won the Cup each of the past two seasons, keyed by five championships last year. The Lancers did one better this year and finished no worse than fourth place in the four other sports. CBU currently does not sponsor women's tennis.

Women's basketball finished second and women's volleyball was tied for third. Men's golf and men's basketball both finished fourth to give the Lancers their 89.5 total points, just 1.5 points shy of Grand Canyon, which fields all 11 PacWest sports.

BYU-Hawaii won the Cup in 2009, and Hawaii-Hilo won the cup in 2008.

San Bernardino Valley sophomore guard Justin Stanley (Oakland J.W. McClymonds) has signed a letter of intent with Division II Cal Poly Pomona.

Stanley was named Honorable Mention All-Conference and averaged 10.4 points per game and had an 83 percent free throw percentage his sophomore year. He also finished second on the team in assists, with 81, and in 3-pointers made, with 38.

SBVC Men's Basketball ended the 2011-2012 season having won 25 games, on their way to making their fourth straight playoff appearance. Continuing to cement its reputation as a dominant program in the region, the team was within one victory of heading back to the State Finals for the first time since 2009-2010 season.

Cal Poly Pomona finished third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association last season at 19-8 and 15-7 in conference play, losing to Humboldt State in the CCAA semifinals.

The UC Riverside baseball game, originally scheduled for Wednedsay, May 16 at USC, had been moved to Wednesday, May 23. First pitch is slated for 6 p.m.