SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Cal State Monterey Bay Otters will make their third consecutive trip to the NCAA West Super Regional after winning two elimination games against No. 2 seed Westmont on its home field.
The Warriors entered the day needing one win, while the Otters had to win two to keep their postseason alive.
Cal State Monterey Bay 6, Westmont 2 [Box score]
Mitchell Torres threw seven scoreless innings and
Cole Murchison homered twice and drove in four runs to lead Cal State Monterey Bay to a 6-2 win over Westmont in Saturday's opener.
Needing this win to force a decisive winner-take-all game, the senior Torres (6-1) delivered in one of the biggest games of his career. He worked through trouble early and got stronger as the game went along. He would need only 93 pitches in seven innings. He allowed three hits and no runs, while walking three and striking out eight. Two runners were on in each of the first three innings, but he worked through trouble each time. In the fifth, the left-hander allowed a leadoff triple before striking out the next two hitters and getting a groundout to remain unscathed. He would retire 12 of the last 13 batters in order.
Murchison got CSUMB on the board against Warriors' pitcher Joey Rico with a solo home run to lead off the fourth. The Otters added two in the fifth on a two-out, two-run single by
Jaden Sheppard. Murchison extended the lead to 6-0 with a three-run home run in the seventh.
Westmont would rally for two runs in the eighth, but
Aiden Lee got out of the inning with the help of a double play.
Murchison was the only student-athlete on either team to record a multi-hit game.
Cal State Monterey Bay 6, Westmont 4 [Box score]
CCAA Player of the Year
KW Quilici went 2-for-3 with a home run, two walks, two RBI, and three runs scored to help lead Cal State Monterey Bay to a 6-4 win over Westmont in the winner-take-all game of the 2025 NCAA Baseball West Regional.
He scored on a
Cole Murchison two-run single in the first inning as the Otters jumped out to a 3-0 lead. He would again come around to score in the third on a two-out RBI single by
Max Farhan.
Westmont hit two home runs in the fourth to cut the Otters' lead to one (4-3). Quilici extended it back to a 6-3 lead with a two-run homer in the sixth. The Warriors would get one run back in the bottom of the inning on a solo home run by Trey Dunn.
That would be the only run the CSUMB bullpen would allow as it held Westmont scoreless over the last three innings to close out the regional win.
Drew Aguiar pitched 3.1 innings, giving up four hits and one run. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.
Andrew Kotin added a scoreless eighth before All-CCAA starting pitcher
Nate Rohlicek closed out the game for the save.
Next
Cal State Monterey Bay will advance to the NCAA Super Regional in Nampa, Idaho. The Otters will face No. 1 seed Northwest Nazarene in a best-of-three series starting Friday, May 23.