CSUS women are the powerhouse in this area at 4-5-0. CSUS men are 1-5-1.

I need to get a life.

UCD mens golf finished eighth of 16 teams at the Ram Masters Invitational at Ft. Collins, CO, with a total score of 866 strokes, putting them two strokes better than Sac, who finished in ninth place.

Running Causeway score is UCD 7.5, CSUS 0. Next event is womens soccer this coming Thursday in Sacramento.

Oregon State is the only current school in the Pac-12 with a women's gymnastics team. Boise State and Utah State each have women's gymnstics and will join the Pac-12 in 2026. The Pac-12 has now added Southern Utah as an affiliate member in women's gymnastics in 2026-27 year. Much can change in the current chaos that is conference realignment, but as of now Sac is not even an affiilate member in the Pac-12 while Southern Utah is.

That's gotta sting.

Ags and Tritons have had a great rivalry in men’s water polo.

Stepping up your athletic program should be an scross-the-board effort. It is not just one or two sports, but all of the sports that would face tougher competition, even in a diluted Pac-X conference. This past weekend Sac's men's cross country team finished 7th of 14 teams in a meet at USF. Their women finished 6th of 13 at the same event. Nothing spectacular there, however those were the best perfomances by Hornet teams over the past weekend. Football is 0-1 after losing to South Dakota State, 20-3, (in a game that was not nearly as close as the score indicated). Volleyball is 0-3 after finishing last in their own tournament. Against three opponents they won a total of two sets. Men's soccer lost to Santa Clara, 3-0, and is currenty 0-3-1. Women's soccer lost to Fresno State, 2-0, but is currently the winningest team at Sac with a 2-3 record. It is early in the season and things can certainly get better. They can't get much worse.

Aggies swept Sac in volleyball tonight, 3-0, (25-21, 25-21, 25-9) at the Saramento State Invitational. Causeway score is UCD 5, CSUS O.

Bruinwoods got in some trouble a few years ago over allegations of sexual harassment. I think they even shut down for one season. The camps are staffed for the most part by college students hired for summer employment.

Was it Bruinwoods at Lake Arrowhead? (https://bruinwoods.ucla.edu )

Bruinwoods is, or was, an alumni family camp run by some component of UCLA, very much like The Lair of the Golden Bear (usually just called The Lair of the Bear, or The Lair,) operated by the California Alumni Association and located near Pinecrest Lake off of Highway 108 east of Sonora. (https://alumni.berkeley.edu/camp-at-the-lair/# )

My family and I attended the Lair several years ago when our kids were very young. At that time someone in the group had to be a member of some alumni association from any of the UC campuses. They now require that at least one camper be a member of the California Alumni Association. It's a pretty funky little place. Aging canvas covers over aging wooden structures. We enjoyed it, though as a friend commented, "Do you notice that by about Wednesday the wives are ready to go home?"

Lair actaully has three camps on the same property: Gold, Blue and Oski. At one time there was an effort to have a couple of weeks where the powers that be encouraged Davis alumni. Not sure that ever took off. However one of my now adult chidlren and I have returned in the last ferw years. There are campers from several UC campuses as well as those who graduated from non-UC schools.

Undaunted I head up with a weeks worth of UCD t-shirts, a UCD flag to attach to the "cabin." and now a sign that reads "Lair of the Mare."

Go Ags!

Sac may have gotten out over their skis with their Pac-12 dreams and their sudden discourteous flight from the Big Sky, but if Sac football withers couldn't the other sports remain in the Big West?

Sac's experience moving basketball games to the Memorial Auditorium fizzled out. Some of that could have been parking and the undesirable location, particularly for night events. Cal Expo is a ways from the CSUS campus. While Cal Expo has parking and is very convenient to freeways it has never been a big draw in the area. The State Fair continues to struggle. The Sac Republic is looking for a better location, though maybe converting the horse racing track to a stadium would benefit soccer also.

Added women's basketball and golf.

Don't think the NCAA allows a 13th game unless it is a bowl game or a playoff game. I suppose you could create a special "bowl" game to be played in West Sacramento.

Looks like you're right:
FCS playing seasons
At the recommendation of the Football Championship Subdivision Oversight Committee, the council adopted expedited legislation to change the first contest date for FCS football, starting in the 2026 season. Moving forward, FCS programs will be able to compete in 12 regular-season games every year, with the regular season starting 13 weeks before the FCS championship selections date. The move provides programs greater scheduling flexibility and eliminates the first contest date exceptions.
https://www.ncaa.org/news/2025/6/25/media-center-di-council-introduces-proposals-to-add-2-womens-championships.aspx

Maybe Sac can fill the date with a game against Notre Dame.

More of the same:
News: (August 10, appprox. 2:00 PM EDT) The Patriots placed Larison (leg) on injured reserve Sunday, Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald reports.
Spin: Larison suffered the injury during his two-yard touchdown run at the 3:25 mark in the fourth quarter of Friday's preseason win over the Commanders. He was seen in a walking boot after the game, and after undergoing further tests, the undrafted rookie out of UC Davis will miss the entire 2025 season. The Patriots signed running back Deneric Prince to the roster in a corresponding move.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4698253/lan-larison

Jake was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders during the off season. He is competing for a position as a backup quarterback.

What’s the run-ahead rule/mercy rule for a game like this in the Big West? Why did this even go a full seven innings?

Is Del Oro product the next star QB for UC Davis?
What his coach and others say
By Joe Davidson
Tim Plough’s heart nearly dropped to the turf on Saturday afternoon.
A joyous day of football and community in Yolo County brightened a day heavy on ominous cloud cover, and then the UC Davis coach had a sudden sense of real dread and real storm clouds.
Plough watched helplessly as his fast-emerging quarterback went down early in the spring game and stayed down. The coach made the slow walk from the sideline to the far side of the field to check on Caden Pinnick. A moment after firing a perfectly placed 80-yard touchdown strike to highlight UCD’s afternoon that capped spring drills, Pinnick slumped to the ground. He was in agony, grabbing his right ankle and clutching onto any hope that this wasn’t as bad as it looked.
This was the franchise piece, the Del Oro High School product from Placer County also wondering if his 2025 season was in jeopardy before it really even got off the ground. But to know and understand Pinnick is to appreciate his relentless drive to find a way.
“I’m okay,” Pinnick said after the scrimmage, assuring it was nothing more than a high-ankle sprain. “I’ll be good to go. I’m sure of it.”
Then again, Pinnich is wired such that he could suffer multiple compound fractures on his legs and he would insist he was good to go. Barely able to walk Saturday after rolling his ankle, Pinnick urged Plough to put him back into the scrimmage. The coach did not budge, though he appreciated the grit.
X-rays and an MRI on Saturday and this week revealed no serious damage to the ankle or leg, no shredded ligaments or displaced bones. Pinnick has a high-ankle sprain, and his bum wheel will slow his pursuit of helping the UCD baseball team the rest of this spring. Pinnick stands as a unique two-sport college athlete who manages to squeeze in football, baseball and a full load of academics.
Plough wanted to name a starting quarterback heading into the offseason, and it’ll be Pinnick, a freshman who redshirted last season. He seized control of the job with an impressive spring camp.
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“Scary moment there,” Plough said of seeing Pinnick down. “He’s been really impressive. I don’t know if we’ve had a guy in that short of time come in and make that sort of impact. He makes everyone around him better. It’s the same stuff we saw when we recruited him. He’s a special player with a chance to be a unique leader. I think he’ll have a great career here.”
As for the refreshing approach of naming a starter sooner than later in an era where coaches at all levels prefer to keep things mum, Plough said, “It’s important not to mess around with that. Our guys should know who their quarterback is.”
Pinnick wowed Plough
There’s a lot to like about Pinnick if you’re the coach, or his linemen, or his receivers. He competes, for one. He’s a tremendous athlete who takes his craft seriously.
These are traits deep within him, and of which he witnessed growing up as a fan of his cousin. Stone Smartt quartebacked Del Oro football to two CIF State title games and is now a tight end with the Los Angeles Chargers. The two are close and are in regular contact.
Pinnick also plays with a chip the size of the town of Loomis on his shoulder, motivated to succeed as an under-recruited, three-sport star at Del Oro. He was under recruited not because he lacked skills. Pinnick has skills in abundance, be it his legs to create and extend plays, his rifle arm or his feel for the game and penchant for the dramatic big play.
Pinnick is all of 6 feet and 190 pounds. The thinking was that if he were, say, 3 inches taller, he would have been a major national recruit. Well, he’s not 6-3, and he is content with his opportunity to lead the storied Aggies. Pinnick invites the challenge of taking over for graduated and departed three-year starter Miles Hastings, who over the weekend signed a free-agent deal to play in the Canadian Football League.
When Plough invited Pinnick to visit him on campus in the middle of Pinnick’s senior season at Del Oro, they talked football, studies and life, one quarterback talking to another.
Plough played the position at UCD, and he’s helped recruit record-setters who stormed through UCD, including Jake Maier, now in the CFL. Plough can also relate to going down early in a game, his career flashing in front of him, as he was knocked around when he quarterbacked UCD.
Pinnick scored 42 in basketball with coach watching
Pinnick last spring regularly took an early morning train to Davis, to be around the Aggies, to get involved in workouts and film study, and then he’d train back to Placer County to be a Del Oro student.
That sort of commitment impressed Plough. The coach also recalled a story in which he watched Pinnick sizzle in a basketball game at Del Oro. With Oregon Ducks football coach Dan Lanning on hand to watch Folsom High quarterback star Ryder Lyons, Plough had his eyes on his prized recruit.
Pinnick scored 42 points. Lanning was impressed, too. Then amid laughter, Plough said to steer clear of his guy and to focus on the Folsom lad.
UCD center Zaire Collier of Granite Bay High School roots said the Aggies during the spring gravitated toward Pinnick, a natural leader. Never mind his freshman status. Players recognize a player and a leader when they see one.
“(Pinnick) had a great camp, bringing a new dynamic to the offense,” Collier said. “He showed a lot of good things.”
UCD’s QB camp includes Harper
Pinnick passed for 2,946 yards and 30 touchdowns, and rushed for nearly 500 more and nine scores, as a Del Oro senior, willing his team downfield as one of the greatest players in the history of the storied Golden Eagles program. He was the best quarterback prospect at Del Oro since Randy Fasani some 30 years ago. Fasani was the No. 1 quarterback recruit in the country who signed with Stanford and played in the NFL.
For his prep career, Pinnick passed for 4,625 yards and 57 scores, and he ran for 657 and 13 scores. His duel-threat ability is exactly what Plough wants as the Aggies seek to maintain momentum this fall after producing the school’s finest team in 2024, going 11-3.
Also in the quarterback mix this spring and this coming fall: Grant Harper, a 6-2, 200-pound redshirt left-hander who led championship teams at Campolindo High in the Bay Area.
Harper had similar numbers as Pinnick in high school and is UCD’s most experienced quarterback, having seen time in four games last season. He will play this fall, too, in an era where teams need two quarterbacks to get through long seasons. Because you never know when a guy might go down.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 11:41 AM.
Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/sports/high-school/article305348651.html#storylink=cpy

UCD baseball defeated CSUS, 6-5, in a game in Sacramento.

This was the final meeting of the two schools in the 2024-25 season. The final tally for the Causeway Cup is UCD 59.8, CSUS 29.8.

Go Ags!