Justin Hixson joined California Baptist University baseball as a volunteer assistant in August 2018. The Lancers went 35-20 and won a share of the Western Athletic Conference title in their debut season in NCAA Division I and the WAC with Hixson on the staff in 2019. CBU produced four WAC Pitchers of the Week on the year and three all-conference pitchers at the end of the season, including WAC Pitcher of the Year Logan Rinehart. He had spent the previous three seasons as a pitching coach at Biola University after after an accomplished playing career at CBU from 1998-2000.