After years of toiling in obscurity, the men’s baseball team at CSU Monterey Bay has a breakout season.

It’s practice time for CSU Monterey Bay’s baseball team. Players are making diving catches in the morning fog, sliding into third. The noise from the home dugout as players cheer each other during practice makes it clear they’re a supportive and unified team.

It would appear that this approach to practice has helped them to hit the ground running this season. Averaging 7.6 runs through the first 30 games, the Otters possess an explosive offense.

At 23-7 so far this year, it’s the best-ever start to a season in CSUMB’s baseball history, and the Otters are ranked 14th in the nation in the latest National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II polls. In the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the Otters are at 17-1 – and positioned at the top of their conference with a two-game lead over UC San Diego.

With another important series ahead this weekend, head coach Walt White – now in his eighth season – says they’ve found a winning formula after years of hard work and building up the team’s name recognition.

They have only finished below .500 in two seasons since White started in 2010.

The pivotal year, he says, was 2013. “That was a huge recruiting year for us,” White says. “One pitcher, Will Anderson, was a Division I transfer from Fresno State. Everyone in the CCAA was recruiting him. He decided to come here, because he believed in what we’re building.”

Anderson would ultimately go on to become the first All American in CSUMB baseball history.

With a big squad of 46 today, competition for a spot on the roster is intense; conference rules permit only 28 men to travel for away games. It’s a big improvement, White says, from when spectators didn’t even know the name of the university, and even locals didn’t recognize the gold-colored “MB” (for Monterey Bay) logo on his shirt.

“I remember a few years back going to watch a local high school game, and a parent said to me, ‘Oh, Notre Dame?’” White says, referring to the famous school’s gold-hued lettering. “Now I can go anywhere in the state and people know Monterey Bay baseball, who we are and what we’re about.”

The team’s winning streak comes partly from competing for the coveted roster spots for away games, White says, and the basic ingredients for any athletic success: hard work and practice.

Senior catcher/first baseman Jacob Tonascia has started the season on fire, hitting .379 through the first 30 games with 10 home runs; this is after hitting five home runs in 44 games last season.

“Coach has shown great faith in me, and the hard work I put in during the off-season – along with everyone else – has allowed us to start strong,” Tonascia says, “but we know there’s a long way to go yet.”

Another member of the powerful lineup is senior Hayden Duer, hitting 11 home runs – leading the CCAA in that category – and 36 RBIs so far this season. His brother Ron Duer played for CSUMB baseball from 2008-2011. Ron sold his younger brother on what he believed White was building, the younger Duer says, so he decided to try out for the team. He has not been disappointed.

“The growth of the program in the five years that I’ve been here has been great,” Duer says. “We’ve really tried to put baseball on the map, and we’ve raised our own expectations every year.”

White has worked to build up a stable of big hitters: “I’ve always allowed us to play to our strengths. We have speed on the bases, and we can utilize our power by getting runners in scoring position on a regular basis.”

One pleasant surprise for White this season has been the emergence of Connor Fabing as a pitcher. (Fabing had been an all-conference pitcher at San Benito High School in Hollister before becoming a first baseman at CSUMB.) His pitching went from 82-83 mph to 90 mph. “He’s at the stage now where everyone has confidence in him,” White says. “If we have a lead in the eighth and ninth innings, with the ball in his hands, we fancy our chances.”

Like the lineup in any given game, there is no letup in this conference, with another NCAA Division II CCAA showdown on the horizon when CSUMB plays a four-game series against Cal State Dominguez Hills this weekend. After a four-game sweep of Cal State San Marcos last weekend, the Otters will be looking to build upon that momentum.

Duer says they can’t rest on the success of their previous games: “We’ve just got to keep working hard and take each game as it comes.”

The MONTEREY BAY OTTERS begin a four-game home series against the Dominguez Hills Toros at noon on Friday, April 6 followed by a double-header at noon on Saturday. The series finale is at 11am on Sunday. Otter Sports Complex, 4113 Second Ave., Seaside. $5; free/CSUMB students and faculty. 582-3015, otterathletics.com