First-place and 14^th-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay exhibited the kind of come-from-behind magic that has it on the brink of clinching the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) title Friday. Unfortunately for the Chico State fans at Nettleton Stadium, it came at the Wildcats' expense. The Otters trailed by two runs with two down and no one on in the ninth before rallying to score three times, beating Chico State 8-7 in the first of a four-game series.
 
22^nd-ranked Chico State slipped to 29-12 overall, 22-10 in the CCAA, and 18-5 at home despite Willie Lajoie's 4-for-4 effort. The Wildcats are now tied for second place in the CCAA standings with Cal Poly Pomona. However, they would clinch a CCAA Tournament berth with their next win or the next Sonoma State or Cal State East Bay loss.
 
Cal State Monterey Bay is 34-12 overall and 29-8 in the CCAA and can clinch the conference title with one more win this weekend.
 
Lajoie crushed a two-run homer to deep left center field in the third inning to break a scoreless tie, and after the Otters scored four in the third to grab the lead, Jacob Jablonski lined a solo shot over the left field wall to open the fourth and cut that lead to 4-3.
 
Lajoie is now batting an even .400 this season and .404 in his career. Though he still needs 22 at-bats to qualify for the record, his career batting average would be a Chico State baseball record. That record is currently .397, and held by Steve Gotowala.
 
The Wildcats took the lead with a four-run sixth. Jablonski was hit by a pitch leading off the inning, Kyle Dobson singled, and Elijah Jackson jacked a two-run double down the left-field line. Andrew Crane drove in Jackson with a base hit, and after stealing second, came around to score on Jack Murphy's base hit.
 
As Gerrit Erickson had done the inning prior in relief of starter Rylan Tinsley, Josh Verdon pitched a scoreless seventh.
 
The Otters got a run back in the eighth after three straight walks—the first by Verdon and the second two by Kevin Lyons—and an RBI groundout. Eric Hill came on to get the final out of the inning.
 
Hill also got the first two outs of the ninth, both via strikeout, needing just seven pitches to do so. Then the Otters rallied.
 
Chico State will look to bounce back during tomorrow's doubleheader. The Wildcats still have an outside chance to win the CCAA title, but would need to win the three remaining games of this series and all four next week at Cal State East Bay. Also looming large is the race with Cal Poly Pomona for the No. 2 seed in the CCAA Tournament. The top two teams will avoid taking part in the two opening-day elimination games featuring the No. 3 seed versus the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed versus the No. 5 seed.
 
Chico State will host the CCAA Tournament May 11-14 at Nettleton Stadium.