LOS ANGELES >> Add another plaque and another celebration on the mound for Cal State Monterey Bay’s baseball team.

A week after becoming the first baseball program in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 52 years to win a fourth straight conference title, the Otters brought home a third consecutive conference tournament championship.

Erupting for three runs in the fourth and four in the fifth, CSUMB overcame a three-run deficit Saturday for a 12-8 win over rival San Francisco State, ensuring a spot in the NCAA Division II West Regionals.

“There was a scenario out there where we could have been left out if we didn’t win this,” CSUMB coach Walt White said. “Capturing the tournament gives you an automatic bid. The celebration was a little more subdued. There’s a bigger prize still out there.”

White was speaking of the Otters’ quest to reach the Division II College World Series, as they came within an out last spring of advancing to the event.

“We’re playing the best baseball we can possibility be playing right now,” White said of his squad, which is 36-16. “We have 28 seniors on this roster that haven’t forgotten about last year.”

With temperatures reaching 98 degrees, White found himself being a grounds’ crew member before the game after the field was overwatered in pregame, creating a puddle near second base.

“I’m exhausted emotionally and physically,” White said. “I spent 20 minutes working on their field when it felt like it was 105 (degrees out). The first two or three innings my legs felt like jello.”

The Otters will be seeded into the West Regionals Sunday night, where there is a slim chance that they’ll be awarded the home site, which begins on Thursday.

“We’ll see, White said. “I think it’s a slim chance. The two ranked teams in front of us both won their conference tournaments. I could see us moving up to No. 2. We play in a conference that’s balanced. But it’s probably going to be at Westmont in Santa Barbara.”

Having overtaken San Francisco State in the final weekend of the regular season by winning three of four games for the conference regular season title, the Otters have beaten their rivals five out of six times in the last eight days.

Last spring CSUMB beat the Gators on the last day of the regular season to capture the conference title, then defeated them twice in the tournament to be awarded the home site for the West Regionals.

San Francisco State, which is shutting down its program at the end of the season for financial reasons, will likely be seeded into the West Regionals as well.

“We knew there would be a lot of runs scored because of the heat,” White said. “I don’t know if the delay in the start contributed to our start. But getting three runs in the bottom of the first stopped their momentum and put the game back into balance.”

White was speaking about San Francisco State pushing across four runs in the top of the first, only to see the Otters respond with three in the bottom of the inning.

As was the case in Friday’s 7-6 win over the Gators, CSUMB used mid-game heroics to erase the deficit, scoring 12 or more runs in the tournament for the second time.

Seven of CSUMB’s nine hitters in the lineup had at least one hit, with Jacob Dressler’s two-run double igniting a four-run fifth inning to stake them to a 10-7 lead.

“When we score, we typically have a big inning,” White said. “When we walk more than we strike out, we’re pretty hard to beat.”

The Otters struck out just four times, while earning five walks. Conference Player of the Year KW Quilici, who came into the game hitting .388, walked three times for the Otters.

Salinas graduate Max Farfan collected three more hits, including a triple to open the four-run fifth-inning outburst. The shortstop drove in his team-leading 53rd run in the fourth inning when the Otters produced three runs to tie the game at six.

Cole Murchison, who contributed a run-scoring double during a three-run first inning, collected four hits and three RBI, finishing 8-for-11 in the tournament with four runs scored.

“He was the tournament MVP, White said. “Cole has been so good for us. He struggled for about three weeks. The last two weeks he’s been a different guy.”

Having relied on his bullpen to close the door all season, White got solid efforts from Kyle Giovannoni and Jacob Parks, who threw a combined three scoreless innings of relief.

“Numbers are important,” White said. “But it’s about when those numbers happened. Those might have been Kyle’s two biggest innings of his career for us. And Jacob Parks just gets better and better. Our bullpen is our strength.”

College softball

Hartnell ran into a nemesis they couldn’t get past, falling to Coast Conference champion San Mateo 4-2 in the second round of the best-of-three 3C2A Northern California regional playoffs.

Hartnell, which finished a game behind the No. 3-ranked team in the state during the conference season, dropped both of its regular season meetings to San Mateo and two in the postseason, finishing the year 25-16.

Tied at one after four innings, San Mateo (39-3) erupted for two runs in the fifth. Charlee Hoover connected on a solo homer for the Panthers, while Hannah Sanchez doubled home Malaya Carrillo.

Hoover, who tossed a perfect game and a no-hitter during the regular season, absorbed the setback for Hartnell, which came into its playoff series with the Bulldogs riding a five-game winning streak after upsetting Sacramento City last week in the playoffs.

Big 8 Conference champion Modesto used a four-run fifth inning to open the game up and end the Lobos ride in the 3C2A Northern California Regional playoffs 8-1.

Ranked No. 10 in the state, Modesto is 27-13 overall this year, having outscored MPC (19-19) 14-3 in sweeping the best-of-five series.

North County product Amelia Visesio singled home Katarina Manuofetoa with the Lobos’ only run in the fourth inning to tie the game at one.

Manuofetoa, who prepped at Monterey, finished with two hits, while Johana Alonzo, Celeste Camarena, Ky Dahle and Haley Koda all had hits for the Lobos.

MPC advanced to the second round of the playoffs after upsetting higher higher-seeded Sequoia last week.