SEASIDE, Calif. – The Chico State baseball team clinched a California Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament berth many weeks ago, and the CCAA title and top tournament seed that goes along with it with seven conference games to play. Following Saturday's regular-season finale, a 17–4 loss at Cal State Monterey Bay that snapped the Wildcats' 13-game winning streak, the postseason is finally upon us.
 
Chico State finished with the best conference record in the history of CCAA baseball, the program's best conference winning percentage since 1953, and the program's best regular-season winning percentage since 2002.
 
Now the Wildcats will focus on making some postseason history. Chico State opens the CCAA Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton Wednesday at 11 a.m. against Cal State L.A. The six-team, double-elimination tournament runs through Saturday. The winner is rewarded with the conference tournament title and automatic berth in the NCAA Championship Tournament.
 
Chico State does not need to win to advance. The Wildcats were the top-seeded team in the latest West Region rankings and will be playing in the NCAA Championship West Regional for the 16^th time since 1996 at a site yet to be determined May 18-21.
 
In the other first-round games, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Monterey Bay will square off at 3 p.m., and UC San Diego will take on Stanislaus State at 7 p.m. If Chico State wins Wednesday, it will face the UC San Diego-Stanislaus State loser Thursday at 3 p.m. If the Wildcats lose, they will face the Cal Poly Pomona-Cal State Monterey Bay loser Thursday at 11.
 
The Wildcats have soared in the face of self-satisfaction all season, continually winning games when it could have been easy to lose focus. Saturday was the first exception.
 
In order to save his top-line pitching for the CCAA Tournament, Head Coach Dave Taylor called upon some of his lesser-known arms to get the Wildcats to the finish line. It was a struggle all the way as the Wildcats allowed season-highs in runs, hits, and extra-base hits­–all by a considerable margin. He used five pitchers, and they all struggled. None went more than two innings or walked away unscathed. They all allowed at least one run and three baserunners in two or fewer innings of work.
 
Cal State Monterey Bay scored two in the first, five in the third, and after the Wildcats threatened to jump back into the game, scored seven in the fourth to put the game away. Chico State had not allowed more than eight runs or 13 hits in a game all season prior to Saturday's struggles.
 
Dillon Kelley went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI to pace the Chico State offense. Tyler Stofiel and Casey Henderson also knocked in a run apiece.
 
Josh Falco went hitless in three at-bats and saw his hitting streak stopped at 18 games. However, he was hit by a pitch to extend his streak of consecutive games on base to 35.
 
Falco and the Wildcats are hoping that streak continues into June.