TURLOCK — Stockton has been a desired destination all year long for the Stanislaus State baseball team. The Warriors and Warrior Nation are thrilled to be heading up Highway 99 to Stockton in about 10 days.

With Sunday's 8-6 series finale win over Cal State Monterey Bay, coupled with losses by Cal State East Bay and Sonoma State, the Warriors have locked in a spot for the upcoming CCAA Baseball Championship. The tournament is May 10-13 at Banner Island Ballpark, just 40 minutes away from campus in Stockton.

Stan State will play in the postseason for the first time since 2009, which was also the last time the Warriors surpassed the 30-win mark. The Warriors, 11-1 in their last 12 games, are now 31-15 overall while taking over sole possession of second place in the CCAA North with a 20-14 record.

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On Senior Day, the Warriors wasted no time getting on the board putting up a five spot in the first inning. Stan State started the inning with three singles. Then a bunt forced the Otters to throw the ball away to score Kyle Nixon to make it 2-0. Kert Woods plated Gino Franceschetti with a fly out for the third run. With runners at the corners, Charlie Gaff beat out a safely squeeze for a 4-0 lead. Then, Adam Nascimento capped the scoring rally with another sac fly for the 5-0 lead.

After CSUMB (27-19, 19-15 CCAA) scored a run in the third, Nixon get that run back with an one-out homer to right in the fourth to make it 7-1. Nascimento drove in Woods in the seventh for the 8-1 score.

However, the Otters rallied back with five runs in the ninth innings to make it interesting. With two runners on base, Jarrett Veiga finally got Josh Heinz to strikeout looking to end the game.

Stewart Alexander continues to pitch well as he turned in another quality start in the final home game. He went seven strong and gave up just a run on six hits with four strikeouts to earn his seventh win of the season. He lowered his ERA to 1.85.

Nixon finished with 3-for-4 with the homer and scored three times. Nascimento drove in two runs while five different Warriors (Franceschetti, Aldo Koutsoyanopulos, Cameron Irinaga, Gaff, Nathan Chunn) each had two hits.

Stanislaus wrapped up the home schedule with a 19-8 record at Warrior Baseball Field (39-15 in last two seasons). The Warriors will play four games at Cal State East Bay starting on Thursday to finish the regular season schedule.