BOX SCORE Cal State Monterey Bay 8, Sonoma State 3  --  Box Score

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — With its postseason fate already decided, head coach John Goelz elected to give his bench players some action, and with the exception of one inning, the Sonoma State baseball team held its own, but Cal State Monterey Bay plated five runs in the top of the eighth inning to spoil SSU's Senior Day with an 8-3 win over the Seawolves in the regular season finale on Sunday at Seawolf Diamond.  SSU finished the regular season with a 25-23 overall record and 23-17 in the CCAA.  The Otters (26-24, 19-21 CCAA) finished with an overall record over .500 for the first time in program history.

Sonoma State will head into next weekend's CCAA Baseball Championship Tournament in La Jolla on May 10-12 as the No. 4 seed and will play No. 1 seed UC San Diego on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.  For more information, click here.

While senior pitcher Joshua Nervis got the start for SSU on Senior Day, he only threw for an inning as coach Goelz worked nine separate arms throughout the game.  Timothy Perreira, Matt Manfre, Graham Rodriquez, Kyle Stahl, DJ Gunderson, Joey Van Cleve, Mike Guglielmo, and Michael Garber all saw time on the mound for the Seawolves.  Guglielmo (0-2) ended up with the loss after starting the eighth inning, allowing the Otters to come back from a 3-2 deficit.  Zac Grotz started the final game of the season for Cal State Monterey Bay, tossing five innings of shutout ball, allowing four hits.  Chris Neifert (3-4) came on in relief for Grotz and pitched for three innings, giving up three runs on four hits, however, he earned his third win of the season.

Cal State Monterey Bay saw the ball well out of Nervis' hand in the top of the first inning, scoring two runs to start the ballgame.  Danny Nelson led off the game with a single down the left field line.  After a throwing error by Nervis on a failed pickoff attempt, and a single by Brian Haggett moving Nelson to third, he came in to score on a sacrifice fly by David Garcia for the first run of the game.  Jason Merjano then doubled into center field to knock in Haggett, giving the Otters an early 2-0 lead.

Sonoma State tied things up at a score of 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Scott Collins doubled into left center field, bringing around Devin Elliott and Marcus Kimura, as part of a 3 for 3, two-RBI offensive performance.  Kevin Cramer broke the tie in the bottom of the seventh on a single through the left side of the infield, driving in Kimura and giving SSU a one-run lead.

CSUMB came back in the top of the eighth to score five runs, on three hits to take a 7-3 lead.  Haggett hit in the first run of the inning on a single to left field, scoring Nelson.  The Otters scored four more runs in the inning, two via sacrifice fly.  Chris Lopiccolo was hit by the pitch with bases loaded to earn an RBI and Jesse Olson drew a bases loaded walk to complete the five-run inning for Cal State Monterey Bay. 

The Otters tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth inning to increase their lead to five runs, 8-3.  In the bottom half of the ninth inning, Kimura was able to get on base with a single, but it was all for naught, as the next two batters flied out to end the game.

In addition to Collins' hot day at the plate, Kimura contributed two hits and scored a run.  Brian Budd and Elliot scored a run each, as well.  For the Otters, Merjano drove in three runs, while Nelson, Haggett, and Urakami each crossed the plate twice in the victory.

Sonoma State will fly down to La Jolla, Calif. to take part in the CCAA Championship Tournament as the fourth seed.  They will begin their quest to get back to the NCAA Division II College World Series on Thursday against host and top-seeded UC San Diego.