CHICO, Calif. – Eight games left in the regular season, and for the Chico State baseball team to make its 12th trip to the NCAA Championship Tournament in 14 years, the ’Cats have to pretty much run the table starting this weekend as they host Cal State Stanislaus in a four game series Friday through Sunday at Nettleton Stadium.

The Wildcats enter the series with the Warriors 29-19 on the season and riding a five-game winning streak, beating Grand Canyon University and Academy of Art University in a series of non-conference contests. Chico State currently is tied for sixth place in the CCAA standings with a 14-14 record; the ’Cats trail fourth place Cal State Dominguez Hills by two games and third place Cal State L.A. by four in the race for one of the final two conference tournament berths. Chico State needs to beat Stanislaus this weekend and hope that the Toros and Golden Eagles falter somewhere over the next two weeks…this weekend Dominguez Hills is home to take on last place CSU Monterey Bay, while Cal State L.A. plays a “home and home” series against 14-14 Cal Poly Pomona. The Wildcats are also sixth in the NCAA West Region rankings and need to finish in the top four to earn an invite to the NCAA Championship West Regionals in mid-May.

Chico State continues to boast the top offensive attack in the CCAA, leading the conference in team batting average (.349), runs (357), hits (565), home runs (56), RBI (330), on-base percentage (.422) and slugging percentage (.520).

Cal State Stanislaus is also in the mix for a conference tournament bid. The Warriors are in fifth place in the CCAA with a 15-13 mark; overall, Stanislaus is 29-15 on the year. The Warriors come to Chico having won two straight and five of their last six games, but they’ve struggled of late in conference play, dropping five of their last CCAA contests. Stanislaus has also generated plenty of offense this season, batting .309 as a team and ranking only behind Chico State in the CCAA in home runs (47), runs scored (324) and RBI (301).

The Wildcats have won their last seven home games and nine of the last 10 at Nettleton Stadium. Against Cal State Stanislaus, the ’Cats have beaten the Warriors 21 times in 27 tries at The Nett dating back to 1997.

The series opens with a single game Friday beginning at 6:00 p.m. Saturday the Wildcats and Warriors play a doubleheader with the first game getting underway at noon, and Sunday wraps up the four-game set with a single contest starting at noon. Hear all the action with Mike Baca calling the play-by-play locally on ESPN 101.7 FM or on the Internet via the Wildcat Athletics website.