Otter Athletics on the Rise

The gradual improvement of the Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) athletic department since they moved from the National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) in 2005 to competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association, Division II level has been improving quickly and appears to be on the right track to be a winning athletic department.

The CSUMB Men's Golf team is heading to Nationals for the second straight year. The Women's Basketball team won their first regular season conference title, and their first NCAA D-II tournament this year alone, following in the footsteps of the Men's Basketball team's post-season success two seasons ago.

The lady Otter's started their basketball season 16-0, putting themselves in a great position to finish strong this year, and did so by making school history. The lady Otter's also won 24 regular season games, and 20 regular season conference games, both school records, and were ranked 19th in the nation in Women's NCAA D-II Basketball during the season.

Third-year coach Renee Jimenez improved the Otter's win total each of the last three years and was awarded Coach of the Year in the CCAA after this season and a triplet of seniors were selected to the CCAA all-conference team.

"We changed the mindset of the program when I got here from San Diego three years ago," said Jimenez. "We recruit winners, and expect to win right away now; this year's groups set the standard for the future."

During the Men's Basketball team's 08-09 season, they finished with a 16-14 overall record, a .533 win percentage, and made it to the California Coastal Athletic Association (CCAA) conference tournament finals but lost to CSU San Bernardino. The two victories in the CCAA conference tournament by the Men's Basketball team were their first postseason victories in the school's history.

The baseball team had a noticeable improvement, posting a .425 win percentage, and holding a 17-23 record overall and a 14-17 Conference record as of April 22. Both are improvements from last year's overall record of 8-41 and 4-36 conference record. Walt White, former assistant baseball coach at Sonoma State for several years before becoming head coach this year at CSUMB, took over for last year's coach Rich Aldrete. He helped take Sonoma State to the NCAA D-II Regionals and this year he's helped revitalize the Otter's baseball team.

"The chemistry this year is great, and the coaching is amazing, we have coaching for each position who are hands on each practice," said first-baseman Chris Lopiccolo, junior. "The coaches this year are getting best out of their players." Lopiccolo along with several other baseball players said they believe their new coaches winning background and the school competing at the NCAA D-II level in the CCAA conference are all being utilized as tools to entice recruits to sign and play for the Otters in the future.

"We do talk about competing in the CCAA to recruits, and coach's success at Sonoma State, and that's what our best recruiting tool for the future is," said Lopiccolo. If the baseball team hopes to continue improving they are going to have to improve their road play, this year they hold a 4-13 record when playing away from CSUMB, but a 13-10 record when playing at home. Lopiccolo attributes their road play woes to the opposing team's fields, which aren't made of turf like CSUMB's baseball field. He said the other fields tend to cause them to make unforced errors, if they fix that and get their chemistry right he thinks they will be fine.

The CSUMB Men's Golf team won their second-straight CCAA championship on April 19 in Paso Robles, and two Otters took the top two places in the individual competition, last year's conference championship was the first one for the Men's Golf team. The Otter Men's Golf team went into the tournament seeded 12, and defeated top ranked Chico State in their first round dual-matchup. The win was their fourth-straight as they go into the NCAA Super Regional tourney May 2-4. After the tournament, Coach Jason Owen was named Coach of the Year in the CCAA and Dylan Jackson, John Jackson, Oskar Nystrom, Kenny Pigman, and Scott Yeakel were named to the CCAA all-tournament team.

Another consistent team on campus has been the Women's Softball team; they currently have a 24-27 overall record, a win percentage of .486, a minor setback when compared to their overall season records since 2008. The Otter's Softball team recorded a 35-26 record, finishing 18-14 in conference in 2008, and had one victory in their CCAA post-season tournament. They topped their conference win total the following season going 20-12, and finished 36-27-1 overall during their 2009 campaign and won both games in the CCAA post-season tourney.

"We came together as a whole because during the 06-07 seasons we had just began competing in the CCAA at the NCAA D-II level," said CSUMB alum Ashlee Trotter, former softball third-baseman from 2006-2009. Just like the baseball team, the softball team also uses the fact that CSUMB competes in the CCAA at the NCAA D-II level as a recruiting tool according to several softball players, including Trotter.

Due to preseason scheduling conflicts, the Otters played in eight less games last year than in their 2009 season, but to post a better win percentage of .623, going 33-20 overall and finished with their best CCAA conference record in school history, going 25-11.

"Once we were in an established program we got more recruits to come in and take us seriously," said Trotter. "The recruits sign knowing that the CCAA is considered by a lot of players and coaches as one of the best D-II conferences in the country."