AZUSA, Calif. — No. 22 Cal State Monterey Bay made the big plays when it needed them the most to pull out a wild 10–7 win over Chico State in its opening game at the NCAA Division II West Regional Championship Thursday at the APU Baseball Complex.

CSUMB (39–16) used 15 hits—including three home runs—to overcome shaky early defense that saw the Otters commit five errors in the first seven innings. All of that was forgotten, however, when a pair of highlight reel plays at third base from Reed Oster (Napa HS) and a diving catch a first by Hayden Duer (Davis HS) quelled the final Wildcat challenges in the last two innings.

Despite the prodigious offense output by CSUMB, Chico kept finding a way to stay close. The Otters took early leads of 2–0, 4–3 and 5–4. The Wildcats took advantage of a wild throw on what should have been an inning–ending double play to tie the game one last time at 5–5 in the fourth, but Kyle Czaplak (Pacific Grove HS) restored order with a line–drive homer in the bottom of the inning to put CSUMB on top to stay.

The Otters added two more runs in the sixth before closing the scoring on a titanic homer by Duer in the home half of the eighth.

Senior Colton Fletcher (San Jose/Westmont HS) did yeoman's work on the mound, improving to 10–1 by allowing just three earned runs in seven innings while pitching around the early leaky defense. Gabe Katich (Mt. Pleasant HS) tossed a perfect ninth to earn his first collegiate save.
 

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THE GAME WAS OVER WHEN OVER WHEN… Hayden Duer's 17th home run of the season put the Otters on top 10–7 in the eighth.

FOR OPENERS… Thursday's win marked the first time in three NCAA Tournament appearances (2013, 2016, 2018) that the Otters opened regional play with a victory.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME… Thursday's win brought CSUMB's all–time record at the APU Baseball Complex to a spotless 5–0.

DOUBLE (FIGURE) THE FUN… CSUMB scored in double  figures for the 17th time this season in Thursday's 10–7 win over Chico State. The previous school record for double–figure scoring was 12 games by the 2015 and 2016 squads.

OTTERS DIG THE LONG BALL… With three homers Thursday's win, the Otters now have 53 home runs as a team in 2018. That mark ranks No. 2 on the CSUMB single–season list, trailing only the 54 long balls hit by the 2016 squad.

THE LUMBER COMPANY… Hayden Duer and Jacob Tonascia extended some of their personal CSUMB single–season power records in Thursday's win. Duer's home run was his Otter record and CCAA–leading 17th of the season (Tonascia is No. 2 on that list with 16). Tonascia, meanwhile, drove in his school record 60th run (Duer is second on that list with 58).

THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters will play Point Loma University Friday at 3 p.m. It will be an elimination game for Point Loma (33–17), which lost 22–3 to UC San Diego in Thursday's late game.