CHICO, Calif. --  The No. 16 Cal State Monterey Bay baseball team opened CCAA competition on Friday afternoon at No. 23 Chico State at Nettleton Stadium. CSUMB trailed early, but came on late scoring seven runs in four innings to capture an 8–5 victory.

The Wildcats gave the Otters a taste of their own medicine by scoring early in the series opener between the two ranked teams. Josh Falco got things started for Chico with an RBI double and was followed by and RBI single by Jimbo Pernetti to take a 2–0 lead in the second inning.

Hayden Duer (Davis HS) and the Otters got one back in the fourth inning on an RBI single to cut the deficit in half, 2–1. A scoreless fifth inning led to the sixth where Kevin Davidson (Yucaipa HS) smacked his fifth home run of the season to tie the game at 2–2. Myles Hager (Tarzana, Calif / Chaminade College Prep) joined Davidson and Duer with an RBI in the seventh inning breaking the tie and giving CSUMB a 3–2 lead.

Brian Bostjancic (Forest Knolls, Calif. / Sir Francis Drake HS) gave the Otters some insurance in the eighth inning with a 2–RBI single driving in Chris Blanton (Burlingame HS) and Duer for a 5–2 lead. However, the CSUMB defense slacked off in the bottom of the inning as two errors allowed the Wildcats to claw back within one run at 5-4. The Chico defense had its own faults in the top of ninth committing two errors to allow the Otters to tack on two runs to lead 8–4.

While the Wildcats were able to score once in the bottom of the ninth, the threat was nullified by Drew Kozain (Redondo Union High School) who earned his first save of the season with an inning and one–third of one–run ball.

?CSUMB starter Gabe Katich (San Jose / Mount Pleasant HS) was impressive on the mound, collecting four strikeouts while allowing two earned runs in seven and two–thirds innings for his second win (2–1) of the season.

Davidson continued to see the ball well with a 3–for–5 day at the plate. Bostjancic drove in two runs, while four other Otters contributed one RBI each. Davidson, Duer, and Blanton scored twice in the win.

Monterey Bay continues its hot start improving to 12–1, 1–0 CCAA. The 4–game series will continue tomorrow with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.