SEASIDE, Calif. — The No. 12 ranked Cal State Monterey Bay baseball team will head to the NCAA Division II West Regional as the No. 1 seed as selected by the NCAA Baseball committee Sunday evening. CSUMB (38–16) will face No. 6 seed Chico State (31–22) in the opening game of the double–elimination tournament on Thursday in Azusa.

The Otters took the season series from the Wildcats, 4–1, including an 8–2 victory in the CCAA Tournament Friday in Stockton.

"Over 54 games we put together a pretty good resume to earn a regional berth. Now we get to compete against some of the best competition in the country," says CSUMB Head Coach Walt White. "All six teams in this regional are capable of winning a national championship. We are prepared and we look forward to playing our best."

The Otters will be making their third NCAA Regional appearance since 2013 and their second as the No. 1 seed. CSUMB was the No. 1 seed in 2013 and the No. 5 seed in 2016.

CSUMB is coming off its second CCAA title since 2013 and sports the second–best record in program history. Only the 2013 team that finished 39–17 was ever better.

The senior catcher/first base combo of Hayden Duer (Davis HS) and Jacob Tonascia (San Benito HS/Mission College) lead the Otter offense, forming a lethal combo by combining for 32 home runs and 116 RBI in 2018. With 16 home runs apiece, Duer and Tonascia have broken the CSUMB single season home run record (Duer & Kevin Davidson) of 13 set in 2016.

Junior center fielder TJ Dove (Yuba CC/River Valley HS) and senior infielder Kyle Czaplak (Pacific Grove HS) joined Duer and Tonascia on the All–CCAA first team and bring their own potent bats to the CSUMB lineup. Dove is hitting. 378 with 16 doubles, four triples and five homers while Czaplak hits .367 with 15 extra base hits in just 128 at bats.

Senior Colton Fletcher (San Jose/Westmont HS) leads the pitching staff as a first team All–CCAA performer with a 9–1 record, a 3.03 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings. Sophomore Colton Fletcher (San Benito HS) was an honorable mention All–CCAA pick after tying the Otter single–season record with 10 saves so far in 2018.

The rest of the first round matchups include: No. 2 Azusa Pacific (33–9) vs. No. 5 Cal Baptist (33–17) and No. 3 UC San Diego (38–15) vs. No. 4 Point Loma (33–16).