Pirates will travel to play Glendale in Super Regional matchup

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team will play at Glendale College to take on the host Vaqueros in the Southern California Super Regional playoffs, which kick off on Friday at 1 p.m. at Casey Stengel Field.

The road through the Southern California portion of the playoff brackets were derailed this past weekend, as four of the top teams in the regional were eliminated. One of those upsets took place at Long Beach City College, where the No. 10 Pirates (23-15) swept past the No. 7 Vikings, 18-3 on Friday, and 3-2 on Saturday to move into this weekend's matchup with the No. 8 Vaqueros (21-18).

Glendale needed to play all three games of its best-of-three against Southwestern College, but in the end, the Vaqueros were able to advance. GC topped SWC 5-3 in Friday's opener before falling 6-3 on Saturday, forcing an elimination game, won by the Vaqueros, 6-3.

One key factor for the Pirates heading into this weekend's series is the depth of their starting lineup. Coast boasts a .294 team batting average and last weekend's starters had season averages ranging from .280 to .343, giving the opposition no easy outs up and down the order.

Outfielder Chris Prescott, who went 4-for-5 to lead Coast to an 18-3 win over LBCC on Friday, has been a steady hitter near the bottom of the OCC batting order. Other top Pirate hitters to watch: SS Jeff Nellis (.333, 37 hits, 18 runs, 12 RBI), OF Tommy Bell (.324, 45 hits, 13 doubles, 30 runs, 28 RBI) and C Jack Kruger (.309, 43 hits, 28 runs, 19 RBI). 

Sophomore lefty Art Vidrio picked up his eighth victory on Friday, while on Saturday, reliever Scott Serigstad (5-3) kept the Pirates in the ball game and picked up the win, allowing no runs on two hits with no walks and six strikeouts over the final five innings. Coast enters this weekend's regional with a 3.39 team ERA.

For the Vaqueros, champions of the Western State Conference's South Division, they come in with a .277 team batting average and are led by sophomore infielder Nick Wolyniec, who is batting .357 with 45 hits, 21 runs, four home runs and 23 RBI. Fellow sophomore, Harrison Hoff, has played in all 39 games for Glendale and is batting .355 with 54 hits, 21 runs and 18 RBI. 

Glendale sophomore Ben McKendall (4-0) picked up the win in last weekend's playoff opener against SWC, allowing three runs on 10 hits with three walks and two strikeoouts. Utility pitcher Andy Frakes enters this weekend 5-0 with four saves and a 3.54 ERA with 51 strikeouts over 48 1/3 innings.

The winner of this best-of-three series will advance to next weekend's Southern California Sectionals, which will begin on Friday, May 15.

For parking, directions and other info for this weekend's series, click HERE.