Pirates earn No. 1 seed; will host Southwestern in first round of playoffs

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball has earned the No. 1 seed and will host Southwestern College in the opening round of the Southern California Regional playoffs, beginning on Friday at 2 p.m. at Wendell Pickens Field.

The Pirates (31-9), champions of the Orange Empire Conference had to wait until Tuesday afternoon to find out their opponent and in the end, it will be the 17th-seeded Jaguars (26-15), who rallied late to beat No. 16 Golden West, 4-3, in a single-elimination play-in game.

Coast has played Southwestern twice this season and is 2-0 against the Jags. OCC won at Southwestern, 5-3, on Jan. 31 and 10-3 on Feb. 16 at OCC. But, longtime head coach John Altobelli knows a lot has changed since these two teams last played.

"They're different ... we're different ... this is a best-of-three series and previous results mean zero at this point," Altobelli said. "We played hard all season so we can create a new chapter to the 2017 season and this chapter starts at 0-0. It's nice to have won 31 of 40 games, but starting on Friday, those 31 wins won't mean a thing. We will need to go out and play our best against a team that has absolutely nothing to lose."

After a bit of a stumble on April 13 (and by stumble, we mean just the second of two season-long two-game losing streaks), Coast wrapped up the season winners of six-of-seven before emptying the bench in a 5-3 season-finale loss to Irvine Valley after the OEC title was wrapped up.

A team loaded with power up and down the lineup, OCC enters Friday's regional ranked second in the state in doubles (97), third in home runs (37) and ninth in team slugging (.457).

The depth of the Pirate batting order is hard to top and its top of the order -- sophomores J.T. Navarro, Travis Moniot and Eric Wagaman -- is as an imposing trio any team in the state can throw together. 

Navarro, who started slowly for the Pirates at the beginning of the season, batted .370 during Orange Empire Conference play and has hit safely in 21 of his last 23 games played. 

Moniot, a bounce-back shortstop from the University of Oregon, batted .352 this year with 44 hits, 13 doubles, six home runs, 28 RBI and 40 walks (second-most in the state). 

Wagaman enters Friday's game with a .327 batting average, including 50 hits, 13 doubles, 13 HRs (T-2nd in state) and 43 RBI.

If you manage to wiggle your way around those hitters, then all you have to do is get by Robert Teel (.381, 32 hits, 20 RBI), Ramiro Velasco (.301, 34 hits, five HRs), Walker Keller (.329), Luke Hussung (.280, 14 RBI, 10 stolen bases), Nolan Powers (.311) and batting ninth, Jacob White, who batted .404 against one of the top conferences in the state.

The OCC starting pitching staff has been solid, led by sophomores Kyle Robeniol (6-0, 2.33 ERA, 67 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings), Ryan Randel (5-3, 3.92 ERA) and McKinley LeFore (8-1, 3.18 ERA). The Pirate bullpen has weapons too, including starter-turned-reliever Cameron Jabara (6-1, 3.58 ERA), Austin Moore (2-1, 2.50 ERA) and closer Blair Lewis (3-1, four saves, 1.91 ERA).

For the Jags, who finished third in the Pacific Coast Conference, pushed together a six-game win streak and an 11-game win streak during the 2017 season and with coach Jay Martel at the helm, Coast knows any mistakes on its part will be taken advantage of by SWC.

Freshman Adam Lopez (49 hits, 12 doubles, 25 RBI, .320 batting average) leads the Jags' offense, as does sophomore Angel Estrada (.293, 46 hits, 27 RBI). 

One player the Pirates need to keep off the bases is sophomore outfielder Freddy Walker (.291, 37 hits, 21 runs), whose stolen 21 bases and been caught only four times.

Freshman lefty Michael Cartwright, who did NOT pitch on Tuesday against GWC, is 7-3 with a 1.72 ERA with 60 strikeouts over 73 1/3 innings, followed by fellow starters Dylan Wannamaker (6-3, 3.38 ERA) and Marco Bautista (5-1, 3.69 ERA). If the game is close, look for closer Justin Jaime (0-1, nine saves, 2.97 ERA) to see plenty of action.

Game 2 of this best-of-three series will be on Saturday at 11 a.m. If a third game is required, it will follow Game 2 on Saturday.