SEASIDE, Calif. — The No. 13 Cal State Monterey Bay baseball team reduced its magic number for clinching the CCAA title to a single game by splitting with Cal State East Bay Friday afternoon at the Otter Sports Complex. In their final home games of 2018, the Otters won the opener 17–5 before falling 2–1 in the nightcap.

CSUMB is now 35–14 overall and 29–14 in the CCAA. UC San Diego, which won 11–1 at cellar dwelling Cal State San Marcos Friday, is 28–14 in league play.

CSUMB finishes with a single game at East Bay Saturday afternoon while UCSD hosts San Marcos for a doubleheader. A CSUMB win or one UCSD loss will (unofficially) clinch the No. 1 seed in the CCAA Tournament for the Otters as they hold the tie–breaker over the Tritons.

Friday started on shaky footing for CSUMB when East Bay jumped to a 4–0 lead after two innings. But the Otters exploded for eight extra–base hits in the game—including home runs by Hayden Duer (Davis HS) and Tano Garza (Santa Rosa HS/Mendocino College) in a 6–run sixth inning that put the game on ice.

The Otters manufactured a run in the first inning of the nightcap when Max Sanderson Pleasanton/Foothill HS) walked with one out, moved to second on a balk and scored on a throwing error. But Easy Bay starter RJ Hanson was masterful from that point, shutting out CSUMB over the final six inning on just four hits.

East Bay tied the game when Sanderson couldn't hold on to a diving catch of Matt Cantelme's sinking liner with two outs in the second. The Pioneers scored the winning run on an infield single in the sixth inning.
 

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GAME 1 WAS OVER WHEN OVER WHEN… Hayden Duer and Tano Garza homered back–to–back to make it 11–3 Otters in the sixth inning.

GAME 2 WAS OVER WHEN… Kyle Czaplak grounded out to first with two on to end the sixth inning. It proved to be CSUMB's last chance to score.

FIT TO BE TIED: BREAKER EDITION… If CSUMB and UCSD finish the regular season tied in the CCAA standings, the Otters would unofficially earn the No. 1 seed based on the second CCAA tiebreaker: Combined winning percentage against other teams in the tournament. The worst possible record CSUMB can have against other teams in the tournament in 9–7. In that scenario, UCSD would be 8–8.

WELCOME BACK… After missing the last 21 games, the Otters welcomed back Myles Hager and Kyle Czaplak to the batting order Friday. Czaplak finished the day 3-for-6 with a double and two runs. Hager finished 3-for-7 with a double, two runs and four RBI.

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY… With a nod to Robert Frost, TJ Dove saw his CSUMB record hitting streak and reached base streak end in Friday's nightcap. He singled in the opener to raise both streaks to 22 and 48 games respectively before going 0-for-4 in Game 2.

THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters host the Pioneer for a doubleheader Friday at the Otter Sports Complex. First pitch is scheduled for noon.