Baseball: OCC bound for Fresno
SANTA BARBARA — The dugout roofs at Santa Barbara City College’s baseball field are covered with curved clay tiles reminiscent of the Mission Revival architecture popular throughout California and the West.
Orange Coast College might have borrowed the Mission Revival theme this weekend, as well as the postseason in general. The Pirates, seeded No. 10 in the Southern California Regional playoffs defeated the No. 3-seeded Vaqueros, 10-2, Sunday to claim the best-of-three Sectional series and advance to the four-team State Championship tournament beginning Friday at Fresno City College.
The Pirates (27-17) will maintain their state-title mission when they meet San Joaquin Delta from Stockton (39-5), the top seed from the North, in the opening round on Saturday at noon. Palomar (36-6), the No. 1 SoCal seed and Fresno City College (35-8), the No. 2 NorCal seed, round out the field.
Sunday’s win capped a comeback after losing Friday’s series opener, 3-1, a game that featured just two OCC hits. The Pirates evened the series with a 5-2 win Saturday, then claimed the rubber game thanks to 17 hits, including at least one from every spot in the batting order, as well as solid pitching from starter Stephen Corona and Scott Serigstad.
It was the second time in as many weeks that the Pirates bounced back after dropping Game 1 (they had just two hits in a 13-0 opening-game drubbing at Glendale in the Super Regional). And it was the third straight road series victory this postseason, paving the way to Fresno, where Coach John Altobelli’s Pirates capped an unprecedented 9-0 postseason run to claim the 2014 state crown.
OCC is now 15-2 in the playoffs the last two seasons, and is 4-0 in elimination games this season. The recent hot streak is somewhat surprising, since the Pirates lost six of their last eight regular-season games to drop from first to third in the Orange Empire Conference standings.
“We lost 12 guys to Division-1 programs last year,” said Altobelli, who has guided a team to the state tournament for the fifth time in 11 seasons, including titles in 2009 and 2014. “For a team that didn’t have a whole lot coming back to say that we’re going to the Final Four is quite an accomplishment for these guys. I tip my cap to them for being able to buy in and believe.”
It’s belief, perhaps more than talent, that has propelled this group to Fresno. OCC battled past a Santa Barbara team that finished 33-11 and was poised to make the first state tournament appearance in the school’s 104-year history.
“It was awesome coming up here against these guys and how hot they were [the Vaqueros had won 15 of 18 through Friday and had allowed two earned runs in their previous eight contests entering Saturday],” Altobelli said. “And having to win two in a row makes it special. We just have guys believing right now. They are believing what we [coaches] have been trying to preach to them about how anything can happen if you just get into the playoffs and you get hot at the right time. We told them about how Cypress was a fifth-place [OEC] team in 2013 and the won the whole thing.”
Without a dominant offensive force and with a pitching staff that hasn’t enticed much interest from professional scouts (sophomore right fielder Tommy Bell, who is bound for the University of New Mexico is the lone Pirate to secure a spot in a Division I program as of yet), the Pirates have relied on balance and bravado.
“It has just kind of been a bunch of guys picking each other up, this whole squad,” said sophomore shortstop Jeff Nellis, who went three for five with two doubles, two runs batted in, and one run on Sunday. “There is just no end to it and that’s the best part about it.”
Another of many heroes, freshman first baseman J.T. McLellan, who was three for five with two RBIs and two runs, said the Pirates, borrowing a theme from last year’s 36-9 campaign that resulted in a mythical national championship, are all pulling on the same rope.
“We just have faith in each other; all of us one-through-nine [in the lineup],” said McLellan, who was five for seven in OCC’s two wins in Santa Barbara. “We are all pushing for the team goal and we’re almost there. We’re in the Final Four, but we want to win that championship.”
Whether or not OCC would get the chance to defend its state crown was very much in question Sunday, before it broke a 1-1 tie with five runs on four hits in the sixth inning.
McLellan singled to drive in sophomore catcher Jack Kruger, who had doubled to lead off the second inning, to open the scoring, but the hosts answered with an unearned run off Corona, who allowed no earned runs and four hits in five innings.
Kruger walked with one out to begin the fifth-inning rally. Corona then singled and McLellan added his second RBI with a scalded single to left field.
Freshman left fielder Stefan Panayiotou, who was five for nine with a homer and three RBIs in the two wins over the Vaqs, followed with a double into the right-field corner to chase SBCC starter Lucas Jacobson (8-4).
After freshman third baseman Nick Grimes walked to load the bases, an errant throw to the plate on sophomore center fielder Robert Longtree’s ground ball to the second baseman made it 4-1. Nellis picked up an RBI by being hit with a pitch and sophomore second baseman Chaneng Varela singled in a run to make it 6-1.
OCC tacked on single runs in the seventh and eighth innings, then added two more in the ninth to post the most runs allowed by the vaunted Vaqueros pitching staff all season. Only four times this spring had SBCC allowed more than five runs. And the 17 hits were the second-most allowed all season by a staff that had a 1.98 earned-run average through Friday, second-best in the state at the time.
“It was just sticking to our approach,” Nellis said. “This team can hit, one-through-nine. [Sunday’s outburst] doesn’t surprise me, but it’s a good feeling.”
Varela was three for six with an RBI, while Bell, Grimes and Longtree (an RBI bunt single) added to the Pirates’ hit parade.
Corona, whom Altobelli said was battling through after having his right throwing wrist spiked while playing first base on Saturday, threw 63 pitches to earn his second win in two postseason starts. It’s his third win in four decisions since making his first start on April 14.
Serigstad, who entered in the sixth, struck out seven and allowed four hits and one run to earn his third save.
It was the first time that the Vaqueros had lost two straight home games this season, dropping their home record to 20-6. They had lost two straight games only one other occasion this season.
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Sectional
Orange Coast 10, Santa Barbara 2
SCORE BY INNINGS
OCC 010 005 112 – 10 17 1
SBCC 000 010 010 – 2 8 2
Corona, Serigstad (6) and Kruger; Jacobson, Ledesma (6), Clark (8), Romero (9) and Hill. W – Corona, 3-1. L – Jacobson (8-4). Sv – Serigstad (3). 2B –Kruger (OCC), Nellis (OCC) 2, Panayiotou (OCC). 3B – Hill (SBCC) 2.