By Mark Muckenfuss

Coming off of a repeat California College Athletic Association championship and now ranked ninth nationally among NCAA Division II schools, the CSU Monterey Bay Otter baseball team is winding up to host one of two NCAA DII West regional tournaments starting Thursday, May 18. 

This is the sixth time in the past nine years that the Otters have made the NCAA Division II playoffs. They come in as the No. 1 seed in the Western Division and will face Point Loma Nazarene (No. 4) and Cal Poly Pomona (No. 5) in a double-elimination format.

Point Loma and Pomona will open the tournament at 11 a.m. Thursday. The Otters will play the loser of that game at 2 p.m. 

"We are proud of Coach White and our baseball program," said Athletics Director Kirby Garry. "They earned this opportunity for home-field advantage. The support from our parents, fans and campus community, as well as the local media coverage, has made it such a fun experience. The atmosphere on Saturday was the best we've ever experienced and we look forward to more of the same this weekend."

Head coach Walt White said his team is confident and excited as it heads into NCAA postseason play.

"It's quite a challenge," White said of this week's tournament. "We've got three of the best teams in the region here. But we have the right attitude and we've got good players."

The Otters have benefited this year from a solid lineup of players. 

"We have a lot of depth in our program," White said. "We don't rely on any one individual. In last week's CCAA Championship Tournament, Brady (Miguel), who's the conference player of the year, was injured. Even without him, we won the championship."

The team's cohesiveness also runs deep, he said, and is one of the things that makes it a top contender.

"I don't want to sound corny," he said, "but I think the deciding factor is how much we care about each other, our overall attitude toward our university, our baseball program, and each other."

He hopes there is still a lot of baseball to come.

"We haven't accomplished our main goal," White said, alluding to an NCAA DII championship. 

"We're just going to keep plugging along and playing and see where it takes us. We've had our challenges and we've done well, but we're still facing some good teams."

Go to the Otter Athletics website for more information and the tournament schedule.