Pirates earn No. 1 seed; will host playoff opener on Friday
COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team earned the No. 1-seed in the 2014 Southern California Regional playoffs and will host the opening round of the playoffs, beginning on Friday at 2 p.m.
The Pirates (27-9), co-champions of the Orange Empire Conference with Santa Ana, earned the higher seed over the Dons because of their 2-1 head-to-head record against SAC.
The format for the regional playoffs has changed this year, with three head-to-head, best-of-three matchups prior to the State Final Four, slated for May 23-25 at Fresno City College.
Coast will take on the lowest seed of the four at-large teams -- No. 15 East Los Angeles, No. 16 Mt. San Antonio, No. 17 El Camino and No. 18 College of the Canyons. East L.A. will host Canyons, while Mt. SAC hosts El Camino on Tuesday. The other remaining team will play at No. 2 Oxnard on Friday.
Following Friday's opener, Game 2 of the best-of-three series will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. with a third game (if necessary) set for 30 minutes after Game 2.
Coast is one of three teams from the Orange Empire Conference to reach the playoffs. Co-champion Santa Ana earned a No. 3 seed and will host Long Beach City College, while Saddleback was seeded 10th and will play at L.A. Mission College.
The winner of Friday's opening round will play the winner between No. 8 Rio Hondo and No. 9 Southwestern in the second round.
The Southern California Regional playoff bracket can be found here.
Tickets for the playoffs are as follows:
- Adults -- $8
- Students, faculty, staff, seniors, children 12-under -- $5
- Tournament Pass -- $12
