Pasadena City College's baseball team started this week by moving into the top 10 in the CCCSIA State Baseball Top 25 Rankings from #11 to #8. The Lancers then reached No. 6 in the most recent RPI regional ratings, and more importantly won two games v. Compton in a 24-period to clinch their fourth straight, South Coast Conference series on Thursday.
Pasadena followed up Wednesday night's 7-2 win at Compton (a night time make-up from Tuesday postponement due to wet field conditions) with a 7-3 victory Thursday afternoon at Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Memorial Field. PCC is 21-7 overall, reaching the 20-win plateau for the fourth straight full season under head coach Pat McGee (2017-2019, 2022--2020 shortened season at only 20 games played, 2021 cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic).
PCC has a chance for its first conference sweep of 2022 on Saturday at 12 noon when it closes the 3-game set at Compton. The Lancers are on their longest win streak of the season at six games and have won 9 of their last 10. In the fierce conference race, Pasadena (10-4) is only a half-game behind in the standings losing column to state #9 and current SCC leader Mt. San Antonio (10-3).
On Thursday, Ryan Graves (3-1 record), who has come all the way back from Tommy John surgery, made his best start of the season as he pitched five innings of 3-hit ball, allowing two runs (one earned), with no walks and seven strikeouts. Proving to be the state's best long reliever, sophomore Benny Olguin fired four innings, giving up four hits, one run and notching four Ks for his first save. Despite no starts in 10 appearances this season, Olguin leads the staff in innings pitched with 46, has a team-leading 5-1 record, and struck out a PCC high of 46 batters. His 1.76 ERA leads the 9-team, South Coast Conference.
Offensively, PCC took a 1-0 lead in the third as centerfielder Max Blessinger doubled and scored his state-leading 41st run of the season on a Compton pickoff attempt and error. Pasadena added four runs in the fourth for a 5-0 to take control of things.
Blessinger again was part of that frame's rally with a 2-RBI double. Blessinger passed teammate and shortstop Raider Tello (state hits leader with 55) in the team's RBI lead with 39, which has raised him to third in the state in knocking in runs. The sophomore transfer is No. 2 in the SCC in batting at .419 while Tello leads the conference at .440. Blessinger is No. 2 in the SCC in on-base percentage at .527 and his 49 hits is fourth in the state, second also among conference batters.
Sophomore second baseman Andrew Scannell, a returning starter from the 2019 Lancers SCC North Division co-champion squad, continued his hot streak by batting 2-for-3. He is on a 6-game hitting streak and is 7-for-his-last-11 with six RBI.
On Wednesday evening in a rare conference game under the lights at Compton's MLB Youth Academy stadium, Lancers right-hander Jakob Guardado (3-2) pitched a 1-hit gem over six scoreless innings as he walked four and struck out seven. After a 1-out single by Noah Ford in the first inning, Guardado did not allow another hit over the final 5.2 innings of work. Guardado, a lefty hitter, helped himself at the plate by batting 3-for-5, lining two doubles and scoring twice.
PCC scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings, then scored three in the fifth for a 6-0 lead. Scannell, who was 2-for-3 with three ribbies, was plunked by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth and Blessinger drew a bases-loaded walk.
Leftfielder Aryonis Harrison, a returning starter from the 2020 team, reached base all five times, batting 3-for-3, including a RBI single in the inning, and getting hit-by-pitch twice. He added three of the team's season-high five stolen bases. In his last four starts, Harrison is 7-for-13, six runs scored, three RBI, and received four HBPs. Blessinger did his job as leadoff batter by going 1-for-3 and drawing three walks.
LANCER NINE NOTES: PCC's catchers have been consistent at the plate all season. On Thursday, Matthew Delgado batted 2-for-4 with a RBI. The combination of Delgado, Matt Rice and third catcher Brennan Beckley are hitting a collective .324 with 16 RBI and an impressive .478 on-base percentage. That means the catchers are reaching base safely nearly every other plate appearance...Pasadena is one of eight teams in the state with at least 21 victories, a group that includes SCC foes Mt. San Antonio and El Camino...Thursday's game was the third time this season and third in the last six games where the PCC pitching staff did not allow a walk. The staff limited just one walk in four other games. Not surprisingly the team is 7-0 in those seven games...PCC is 12-3 at its home-away-from-home Brookside Park diamond...PCC is tied for fifth in the state in HBPs with 66 with a remarkable 18 different batters with at least one. The team is seventh in the state in walks drawn at 149. The combined 215 free passes is second in the state to Santa Ana (243). The team's .424 on-base percentage is ninth in the state...First baseman Jake Trabbie leads the Lancers with 24 walks and his 10 HBPs is second on the team to Blessinger's 12...Since the start of the 2017 season until today, Coach McGee's Lancers have compiled a 105-68 record, a .606 winning percentage...Blessinger is on pace to break two PCC single-season records for RBI and runs scored. He needs six RBI to beat Jeremy Conant's 44 runs driven in mark in 2017 and six runs to pass Gabe Arellano's 46 plated in 2019. Tello's batting average is right now 11 points higher than Conant's record of .429. Arellano's PCC record of 75 hits (state leader in 2019) is within reach by both Tello and Blessinger. Olguin's ERA is currently lower than the record of 1.81 for a season turned in by Mickey O'Hara in 1964...PCC have not reached 10 hits in a game only 10 times this season, yet Thursday's win was the sixth straight when it hasn't achieved double digits in hits. The Lancers are 8-2 in those games, an example of how the squad's ability to get baserunners via walks, HBPs and errors broadens the team's offense.