It appears the Pasadena City College baseball team has made it to the playoffs for the seventh straight season after defeating host East Los Angeles, 9-3, on Friday in the South Coast Conference and regular season finale.
The Lancers (21-16 overall) won the 3-game series v. the Huskies, 2-1, and were able to finish in a 3-way tie with Long Beach City and ELAC in fourth place in the conference standings, all at 12-12.
While PCC is 19th in the latest RPI and has to follow Long Beach in the seeding process after losing their series earlier this season, the Vikings were 24th. If that holds up after a few games being played in the region on Saturday, that would allow the Lancers to make the 24-team, Southern California Regional Playoff field.
"We were in a really tough situation after losing the opener of this series, and yet the players dug deep and wanted it these last two wins," said PCC head coach Pat McGee. "I can't say enough about our pitchers in this series. Sergio Robles today makes his first collegiate start and pitched heroically, then Matt Garcia comes in and was outstanding.
"On Thursday, Hugo Tafoya came through with seven strong innings and Aiden Nunez, who we have thrown a lot late in the season finished that win. Isaac Ton made a big start in the opener and even though we lost, he gave us a chance to win. We've battled through injuries to our staff, lost two key starters, and yet the guys on the staff went after it for us."
Robles, who had not thrown past three innings in his previous 12 appearances as a reliever, pitched 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits and blanked the Huskies over the first three innings. He left with the bases loaded in the sixth, allowing one run at that point. Although Garcia was touched for a 2-run double by Felipe De Alba to begin his relief performance, he proceeded to allow just two hits and shut down the ELAC bats the rest of the way for a 3.2 innings save, his fourth of the year.
It was the PCC's bats though that got the team out in front right away. Bryan Richman extended his remarkable hitting streak to 28 games with a leadoff single to centerfield and was brought in on Tyler Garcia's shot RBI hit also to center put the Lancers in front. In the second inning, Richman rifled a RBI basehit to right, then Joaquin Salcedo laced a 2-run single to left, making it 4-0. In the third, Evan Nahra roped a RBI double for a commanding 5-0 PCC lead. Adrian Roman added a 2-run single in the sixth for insurance runs.
"Like our pitchers, the hitters did their job. They were aggressive early in counts and we hit the ball hard throughout the game. Our offense was silent in our previous few series, but all that matters is that they stepped up when we absolutely had to have it the last two games. Super proud of the entire roster. The guys pulled for each other and that includes my assistant coaching staff that kept our dugout focused."
Nahra led the Pasadena niners' 10-hit attack, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI and Richman was 2-for-4 with three runs scored.
In Thursday's 8-4 win, Thomas Villanueva became the 12th different Lancer to reach double digits in RBI this season. Salcedo leads the bunch with 38 ribbies.
Check our website and X/Twitter @PCCAthletics for the latest news including potential playoff seeding. The All-SCC Team will be announced in the middle of next week.