SEASIDE, Calif. – The No. 17-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay baseball team will begin NCAA postseason play on Thursday at the Otter Sports Complex. The Otters will face the loser between No. 23 Northwest Nazarene and San Francisco State at 6 p.m.

THE FIELD
CSUMB (35–18), enters the tournament as the second seed in the West. The Otters will host No. 3 seed Northwest Nazarene (36-12-1, GNAC) and No. 6 seed San Francisco State (32–24, CCAA) in a double elimination format. The Otters and Nighthawks returned to the national poll as CSUMB checks in at No. 17 and NNU is No. 23. Like the Otters, the Nighthawks won both their regular season and tournament titles. The Gatos finished fourth in the CCAA and were the runner-up in the conference tournament last weekend.

SERIES HISTORY
The Nighthawks and Otters have only met three times as the two programs played a three-game series in Seaside in 2009. NNU took two-of-three from CSUMB as the Otters won the opener, 16-8, but were swept in the doubleheader.

San Francisco State and CSUMB are quite familiar with each other as they have already met seven times this season, including three instant classics this past weekend at the CCAA Tournament. Despite the Otters holding an 8-2 mark in the last 10 games, including a 5-2 record in 2024, the two teams have played four one-run games and that does not include the epic winner-take-home contest for the tournament championship.

CSUMB NCAA POSTSEASON HISTORY
The Otters are 8–12 all–time in NCAA Tournament competition, including a 3–0 mark at last season's regional, before falling in both games in the Super Regional round. CSUMB opened the 2023 regional with an 11-8 win over Point Loma and then took two straight games from Cal Poly Pomona, including rallying from a 9-2 deficit to win the regional title. This marks the second straight season that CSUMB has been selected to host.
 
CCAA TOURNAMENT RECAP
The Otters claimed their second straight CCAA Tournament title, taking down San Francisco State in the winner-take-all contest on Saturday, 12-9. CSUMB was down to their last strike but scored five runs in the ninth to claim the trophy. Nico Hartojo was named the Tournament MVP after batting .571 with seven runs and six RBI, that included multiple, clutch, timely hits. Jaden Sheppard, Chase Lindemann, Sergio Solis and Ryan Io also garnered tournament recognition. The Otters hit .299 and had a 5.11 team ERA in the four games. Sheppard smacked two home runs and Io earned two wins in back-to-back nights.
 
FOUR OTTERS EARN NCBWA ALL-REGION HONORS
Cal State Monterey Bay earned four spots on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association NCAA Division II All-West Region teams, the organization announced Wednesday.
 Jaden Sheppard and KW Quilici earned first team nods, while JJ Engman was named to the second team and Mitchell Torres was honorable mention.
 
CCAA RECOGNIZES EIGHT OTTERS ON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
Otter Baseball was heavily represented on the All-CCAA Award list. In total, eight Otters were honored spread across the first-team, second-team and honorable mention distinctions. Jaden Sheppard, JJ Engman, KW Quilici and Mitchell Torres earned first-team nods. Nico Hartojo garnered second-team honors, while Chase Lindemann, Cole Murchison and Nate Rohlicek garnered honorable mention.
 
THREE-PEAT
The Otters needed a sweep over Cal State East Bay in the final weekend of the regular season to win the conference title outright and that is exactly what they did, shutting out the Pioneers in the final contest to claim the regular season title. The Otters became the first team in the conference to win three straight regular season titles since UC San Diego accomplished the feat from 2009-11. CSUMB also became the first team to win the regular season and tournament titles in two straight years since Chico State (2016-17).

NEXT TIME OUT
The NCAA Regional will continue on Friday with a lone contest at 2 p.m.