With still a chance at a conference title on the final day of the regular season, the Pasadena City College baseball team settled for a strong second place in the South Coast Conference in completing a 3-game series sweep over Compton, 6-5, on Friday. The game was played at Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field.
El Camino ended PCC's chance at a crown by defeating Mt. San Antonio, 9-3, in its finale to take the '23 title outright at 18-6. However, the Lancers' 17 victories in conference games (17-7 SCC mark) are a new high for PCC head coach Pat McGee and his program reached 25 victories for the fourth time since 2017. It is the fifth consecutive, 20-win, complete season for McGee's teams.
Pasadena (25-15 overall) followed a season-worst, 4-game losing streak v. SoCal Top 20 ranked, non-conference teams with a current, season-best 6-game win streak to end the regular season. In SCC play this year, the Lancers swept Compton, LA Harbor and Cerritos and won two of three games v. champion El Camino, East Los Angeles and Mt. San Antonio. Only third-place Long Beach City and fourth-place Rio Hondo won series v. PCC, both 2-games-to-1.
PCC has also qualified for the postseason for the fifth straight year that the Regionals have been held excluding the COVID years of 2020 and 2021. It is the fifth consecutive, 20-win, complete season for McGee's teams as well.
Friday's win was McGee's 300th game in charge of the prgoram. His career record currently stands at 160-140, remarkable considering he started at 23-49 in his first two seasons when he took over a perennial doormat in the South Coast going back to when PCC joined the conference in 1987. Since 2017, the program has turned into a consistent, SoCal Top 20 team with two SCC championships in '17 and '19.
Also from 2017 to present, McGee's record is 137-81, an outstanding .628 win percentage. All of this while playing on an off-campus location that he has helped turn into a quality diamond with cooperation from the City of Pasadena. JR Field now has new fences along the right field and left field lines while his tireless work on keeping the infield, mound, and home plate area up to high standards has turned the Lancers' home-away-from-home into one that the players and fans can soak in a college-type atmosphere at games.
The Lancers continued an amazing streak v. Compton, winning their 15th straight game v. the Tartars going back to April, 2015--McGee's first season at PCC.
Jakob Guardado pitched a gutsy, third 9-inning, completel game victory in the finale as he scattered eight hits, allowed three earned runs, one walk and striking out eight. Guardado (6-5 record) also helped ignite the office with a drop bunt single that was thrown away by Compton's third baseman, scoring two runs in the seventh inning. He was 1-for-3 at the plate with two walks. The sophomore Guardado recently picked up his second SoCal Player of the Week honors for Week #12: https://www.cccbca.com/information/2023-4.27-SoCal
Compton starter Joseph Giuntu no-hit the Lancers over the first five innings and the Tartars held a 1-0 lead. But in the fifth, leftfielder Aryonis Harrison walked, stole second, swiped third and scored when the catcher's throw down went into left field for an error that tied the game.
In the sixth, third baseman Toshiki Kuriya hit a bomb, ground-rule double that one-hopped the right field fence to break up Giuntu's no-hit bid. He scored on a wild pitch during a walk to centerfielder Tommy Castillo. After Castillo stole second, catcher Matthew Delgado drew another walk with Castillo advancing to third on a second wild pitch.
With first and third, rightfielder Josh Hernandez perfectly put down a squeeze bunt that scored Castillo for a 3-1 lead.
In the seventh, Castillo's RBI single upped the Lancers lead to 6-2 and turned out to be the game-winning run. Compton (16-24, 7-17 in SCC) rallied for three runs in the ninth, two on Tervell Johnson's double. Guardado though kept his poise and struck out pinch hitter Jose Contreras for the final out.
First baseman Jake Trabbie broke the PCC single-season doubles record with his 20th in the team's 9-4 win at Compton on Thursday. The sophomore went 2-for-4 with two RBI, letterman Guardado hit a 2-run triple and dropped two sacrifice bunts, Aryonis Harrison scored three runs, stole two bases and was 2-for-5, rightfielder Damien Ureta hit 2-for-2 with a double, and Castillo was 2-for-5 and a double.
Coleman Mitchell pitched his conference-leading, eight win and when an injury forced him into the hitting lineup, the sophomore hurler showed his mettle at the plate by going 2-for-3. Mitchell pitched 7.2 innings, allowing eight hits, two earned runs, no walks and striking out two. Nathan Mertens closed with 1.1 innings of shutout ball.
Harrison, a gold glove defender who joined the program in 2020, added to his PCC record, now at 41 walks in his 39 games played. He is the first Lancer to steal 20 bases in a season since Tyler Craig stole 23 in 2009. Craig tragically died in a car accident in 2021. Harrison is up to 52 runs scored and is just one behind the school record set by Max Blessinger last year (53). His .477 on-base percentage is third in the SCC. Harrison's 71 career walks is a PCC all-time record although he had the benefit of playing in the 21-game, COVID '20 season that allowed him an extra year of eligibility this season.
Kuriya is second in OBP at .478 and is tied with Patrick Garcia for the team lead in home runs with six. From Japan, the letterman Kuriya is batting .352 with 38 RBI and saw an impressive streak of seven straight games with a RBI end in the finale. He does have a current, 8-game hitting streak.
Trabbie, a sophomore, leads the conference in overall RBI (46), hitting .360 and has hit safely in his last 12 games. In the month of April, he has 18 RBI, five doubles, two triples, and two home runs. He is third in the state in doubles and leads all players in sacrifice flies with 11.
Sophomore closer Rider Gardner remains tied for the state lead in saves with nine. Shortstop Jack Esguerra is fourth in the state in sacrifice bunts with 10. The Lancers continue to lead the state in total walks drawn with 258.
The All-South Coast Conference Team and PCC's seeding in the upcoming SoCal Regionals will be announced some time early next week.
