SEASIDE, Calif. — No. 12 Cal State Monterey Bay reduced its magic number to clinch a berth in the CCAA Championship Tournament to one with a 15–6 win over San Francisco State Friday afternoon at the Otter Sports Complex.

Combined with a loss by Sonoma State at East Bay Friday afternoon, CSUMB (32–11 overall, 26–11 CCAA) now leads Sonoma, Cal State L.A. and SFSU by seven games with seven games remaining. One more Otter win would wrap up a top four spot in the standings and the CCAA Tourney bid that goes with it.

Of course, CSUMB has its sites set on bigger things after pushing its lead over second place UC San Diego to 1 1/2 games pending the outcome of UCSD's game with Cal State L.A. Friday night. The Otters are hunting for their first CCAA regular season title since 2013.

As for Friday's game, the Otters won in a rout, but it wasn't the kind of rout it appeared it was going to be early. With Jeffrey Ahern (Anderson HS) rolling through the first four innings, his offense spotted him a 5–0 lead thanks in large part to doubles by TJ Dove (River Valley HS/Yuba CC) and Hayden Duer (Davis HS) and a solo shot by Tano Garza (Santa Rosa HS/Mendocino College).  

But the Gators rallied with a couple of long balls of their own. Solo homers by Jack Harris and Jordan Abernathy bookended five unanswered runs that eventually tied the game at 5–5 in the seventh.

As it turned out, the Gator rally served only to awaken the Otter offense, which sent 14 batters to the plate in a 10–run home half of the seventh to put the game out of reach.

A.J. Banuelos (Soledad HS/MPC) threw 3 2/3 innings of 3–hit relief and struck out four to earn the win and improve to 3–0.
 

---

THE GAME WAS OVER WHEN OVER WHEN… Max Sanderson belted a bases–loaded triple off the fence in right field to give the Otters a 9–5 lead in the seventh. CSUMB would go on to score six more runs in the inning to put the game on ice.

TWICE AS NICE… Jacob Tonascia had the rare privilege of collecting two hits in one inning with a pair of singles in the seventh inning.

THRICE AS A NICE… Three Otters collected three hits apiece as part of CSUMB's 19–hit attack Friday. Max Sanderson and Hayden Duer each finished the day 3–for–6, with Sanderson hitting his first triple and Duer his 11th double. Devin Orr went 3–for–5 for the first 3–hit game of his career.

THE ENERGIZER BUNNY… TJ Dove keeps going and going. With his leadoff double in the first inning, he extended his school–record streak of reaching base safely to 43 games (e.g. every game of his Otter career).

BY GEORGE, HE'S ALMOST GOT HIM… With a hit in Game 1 Saturday, TJ Dove would tie Tommy George for the longest hitting streak in CSUMB history at 18 games. George had his streak during the 2012 season.

LEADERS OF THE RAFT… Max Sanderson (3x6, 3B, R, 4 RBI); Hayden Duer (3x6, 2B, R, 2 RBI); Tano Garza (2x5, HR (2), 2 R, RBI); TJ Dove (2x5, 2B, 2 R, RBI); Kyle Guerra (2x4, 3 R, RBI, SB); Devin Orr (3x5, 2 R, RBI); A.J. Banuelos (W (3–0), 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 K, 0 BB).

THEY'VE GOT NEXT… The Otters continue their 4–game series versus San Francisco State with a doubleheader Saturday at noon.