Coach White on Chico State series: "The way we finished the series was very encouraging. Comeback wins inspire your team and give you a sense a confidence. We've been on the other side of those games early on, so the win against Chico was big. Our focus is now on SF State and trying to play the best baseball we can. "
Coach White on San Francisco State Series: "SF State is playing well and playing with confidence. This should be a challenging series and we are excited for that challenge. Every series is important, but this series is significant for us as we are trying to hit our stride of playing well consistently. We know our backs are against the wall and we need to play with a sense of urgency. It's time to play our best baseball of the season."
LEADING OFF: CSUMB will play its first of three split series this weekend. The Otters travel to SF State for the series opener at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 7 before returning to Seaside to host an 11 a.m. doubleheader against the Gators on Saturday, March 8. The series finale will be held in San Francisco on Sunday, March 9 at noon.
SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO STATE: The Gators are coming into Friday's game winning six of their last seven games including a 3-1 series victory over Cal State San Bernardino last weekend. SF State is on top of the CCAA standings after two weekends of conference play. The Gators lead the CCAA in extra base hits, racking up 10 doubles, a triple and a home run in their 18 games.
Players To Watch: Junior catcher Mark Lindsay (.333 BA, 23 H, 8 R, 10 RBIs); senior outfielder Dillion Meyer (.271 BA, 16 H, 3 2B, 3 SB), freshman RHP Ryan Bohnet (2-0, 1.64 ERA, 22.0 IP, 10 Ks)
LAST MEETING AGAINST THE GATORS: The Otters won the first three games of the four-game seires in 2013. Senior
Chris Daniels (Citrus Heights/Sierra College) tossed seven innings that resulted in one unearned run before being relieved by
Collin Monagle (Port Orchard, Wash./Sierra College) and
A.J. Quintero (Vacaville/Sacramento City College) who combined for two shutout innings in the 6-1 win. The Saturday twinbill victories of 7-0 and 6-4 (8 innings) in San Francisco were the first of seven doubleheader wins in 2013. CSUMB dropped a 6-1 decision in the Sunday series finale.
HOME SWEET HOME: Under Coach
Walt White's realm, CSUMB has a 61-35 record when playing at the Otter Sports Complex including an impressive 25-6 record in 2013. So far in 2014, CSUMB is 5-6 when playing on its home field.
LAST TIME OUT: The defending CCAA regular season champion Otters prevented a Chico State series sweep by putting together a three-run rally in their final at-bat to win 3-2 on Sunday. CSUMB dropped the first three games 2-0, 5-4 and 14-2. Senior
Jeff Owen (Clovis East HS) tossed a 2-hit, 2-run complete seven inning game for his third win of the season. Senior
Mark Hurley (Hollister/College of San Mateo) batted .385 with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs.
CCAA WEEKEND RECAP: Sonoma State and UC San Diego series was cancelled due to heavy rains down south. Successfully playing three of the four games, Cal Poly Pomona nabbed two victories over Cal State Dominguez Hills. SF State won three of four against visiting Cal State San Bernardino.
FIRST BROOM SIGHTING SINCE 2012: The Otters suffered a series sweep at Cal Poly Pomona to begin the 2014 conference season. CSUMB had not been swept since its 2012 series against Cal State Stanislaus (March 23-25). Under Coach
Walt White's tutelage, the Otters have only been swept twice with the other one against his alma mater Sonoma State in a non-conference action in 2011 to begin his reign as CSUMB head coach.
INDIVIDUAL CCAA STATISTICS: Senior
Mark Hurley is the CCAA hit leader with 1 and has a conference-best .431 batting average among players with more than 50 at bats. Junior
Brian Hamm (Pleasanton/Chabot College) sits in second place in the CCAA stolen bases category with seven, two less than leader Mark Wise of Cal State East Bay. Junior
Jeff Owen is No. 2 in the conference statistic list with 26 strikeouts. four behind CCAA leader Brandon Quintero of Cal State L.A.
TEAM CCAA STATISTICS: CSUMB leads the CCAA in nine categories: walks (76), doubles (43), doubles per game (2.26), hits (166), sacrifice flies (11), stolen bases (26), stolen bases per game (1.37) and triples (4). The Otters rank second in on base percentage (.374) and triples per game (.21).
CAREER RECORD WATCH: Junior
Jeff Owen captured a new CSUMB career record last weekend to add to his already impressive resume. With six strikeouts in his 3-2 victory over Chico State, Owen raised his career total to 171 passing previous leader Patrick McClain's (2007-10) 169. Owen is also cutting the gap in the strikeout looking category. With two over the weekend, Owen has raised his total to 43 to pull alongside McClain. Owen already holds five CSUMB career record: most strikeouts in a 9-inning game (8.43), most wins (19), most complete games (9), most shutouts (3) and most combined shutouts (3).
PRESEASON HONORS: Senior
A.J. Quintero became CSUMB's second NCBWA Preseason All-American after being selected to the third team. Outfielder Jared DeCastro received honorable mention honors in 2012. Quintero recorded 10 saves in 2013, ranking 12th in the nation. Quintero on the NCBWA Preseason All-Region first team is senior
Mark Hurley and junior
Jeff Owen. Senior
Chris Daniels (Citrus Heights/Sierra College) was a second team selection.
SECOND ISN'T BAD: The Otters were picked second by the league coaches in the CCAA preseason poll despite receiving five first-place votes. Chico State, with only one first-place vote, was deemed the favorite. CSUMB and Chico State had equal number of votes to win the CCAA Championship Tournament which will be played in Stockton May 8-11.
NCAA STATISTICS, 2014 EDITION: Senior
Mark Hurley ranks No. 6 in the country with 31 hits. CSUMB has two in the top 20 in doubles: Hurley is No. 10 with eight and
Brian Hamm (Pleasanton/Chabot College) follows at No. 18 with seven doubles.
NCAA STATISTICS, 2013 EDITION: Jeff Owen also made a mark in the final NCAA Division II statistics (6/2/13) by appearing in three Top 20 categories: wins (5th, 12), strikeouts (13th, 98) and hits allowed per 9 innings (16th, 6.29).
A.J. Quintero finished 12th in the nation with his 10 saves.
BROKEN RECORDS BREAKDOWN OF 2013: RHP
Jeff Owen passed Grayson Adams (2007) as the CSUMB single season leader in strikeouts with 98. Owen also clinched the top spot in the CSUMB record books in the 2013 season with most wins in a season (12). Junior
A.J. Quintero (Vacaville/Sacramento CC) became the single season and career record leader with 10 saves, passing
Harold Zosel's eight in 2012.
FIVE SERIES SWEEPS IN 2013: The Otters achieved their first series sweep of 2013 at Point Loma Nazarene to open the season (Feb. 1-2) with scores of 7-3, 6-1 and 8-5. CSUMB has swept four of its last six series that included GNAC's Western Oregon, No. 23 Sonoma State (April 5-7), Cal Poly Pomona (April 19-21) and Cal State Stanislaus (April 26-28). The Otters outscored the three CCAA schools by a combined score of 88-33.
BREAKING UP THE NUMBERS: In Head Coach
Walt White's three years at the helm, the Otters have an 18-8 overall record against nonconference opponents including an 8-2 record in 2013. CSUMB dominates the GNAC series record in the last three seasons with eight wins and three losses (all to Central Washington).
