MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's will play six games this week split between their home opener against Cal on Wednesday and the Aggie Invitational on the campus of UC Davis over the weekend.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA
The Golden Bears sit just outside the nation's top-25 on multiple publication ranking lists and are 5-5 early this season. Wednesday's meeting will be the first of two contests the Gaels and Bears will play this year with the second coming on April 10 in Berkeley. Saint Mary's will be looking for their first win against Cal since the 2014 campaign when the Gaels took down their East Bay rival twice that season.

Cal is coming off a 2-3 performance at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational where they played five difficult opponents. The Bears dropped contests against No. 11 Texas and No. 20 Oklahoma State but defeated No. 23 James Madison. The other two games were a win over Notre Dame and loss against Minnesota, both of who collected votes in the latest coaches' poll.

Senior Lindsay Rood has been on a tear to begin the season, batting .500 with six extra base hits already and is a perfect 9-for-9 on stolen bases. Redshirt senior Zoe Conley has led the team in the circle this season and owns a 3.02 ERA through 25 innings and has a complete game shutout under her belt already.

As a team, Cal is batting .245 and have smacked eight home runs already this year. The Golden Bears are also dangerous on the basepaths as evidenced by their 17-for-17 mark on stolen base attempts this season.

ABOUT THE AGGIE INVITATIONAL
The Gaels will play five games in Davis over the weekend with doubleheaders on Friday and Sunday and a single contest on Saturday. The teams Saint Mary's will be playing include UTEP, Idaho State, Seattle, and UC Davis.

In the tournament, SMC will play all teams once except Idaho State who will played against twice. The Bengals are 2-4 to begin their season and are 0-2 against WCC schools after losing to Pacific and LMU earlier this year. The host school, UC Davis, is 6-2 this year.

It will be the second tournament the Gaels have played this season after opening the season at the Hawai'i Paradise Classic. The team will also play in the St. George Red Desert Classic and Saint Mary's Tournament in the coming weeks.

LAST TIME OUT
The Gaels kicked off their 2019 season with a 7-5 win over Georgia State to give Sonja Garnett her first win as a Div. I head coach. Saint Mary's was edged in their next contest, 4-3, against Fresno State and lost the next three contests against tough opposition, including a game against No. 1 UCLA.