Pirates host Santa Ana in Round 2 of baseball playoffs

COSTA MESA -- The top-seeded Orange Coast College baseball team will host 14th-seeded Santa Ana College in the second round of the Southern California Regional playoffs, beginning on Friday at 2 p.m.

The Pirates (33-9) and Dons (28-15) are all-to-familiar foes throughout each schools' baseball history. This year, OCC is 3-0 over SAC, but, Coast won one game after trailing 2-1 in the eighth inning and had to win another game in the bottom of the ninth.

"Santa Ana has some arms to deal with ... no doubt about it," OCC head coach John Altobelli said. "We're playing some good baseball right now, but so is Santa Ana. It's two schools who know a lot about each other, so there will be no surprises this weekend."

The Pirates, champions of the Orange Empire Conference, advanced to this weekend's Super Regionals with a pair of 8-1 wins over Southwestern in last week's opening round. Coast pounded out 22 hits with six extra-base hits (three home runs) and showed patience at the plate with eight walks over the two-game sweep.

With a balanced offense up and down the lineup, the SAC pitching staff will have its hands full trying to contain an offense loaded with power (40 home runs), talent (.297 team average) and scoring ability (7.5 runs per game). 

Slugger Eric Wagaman has been a steady force in the heart of the OCC lineup, batting .323 with a team-best 51 hits, 26 extra-base hits, 13 home runs and 43 RBI.

OCC's run-scoring leader has been sophomore Travis Moniot (.361), whose 47 runs is among the leaders in the state, as is his 41 walks, 48 hits, a .522 on-base percentage and a .654 slugging percentage.

Leadoff hitter J.T. Navarro (.308, 45 hits, 24 RBI) has been on fire since an early-season slump and with plenty of support along the way from players like Robert Teel (.396, 36 hits, 21 RBI), Nolan Powers (.304, 34 hits), Ramiro Velasco (.310, 36 hits, five HR) and Walker Keller (.329, 27 hits), the Pirates have plenty of offensive firepower.

Coast's two starters on the mound, sophomores Kyle Robeniol (7-0, 2.11 ERA, 77 strikeouts in 76 2/3 innings) and Ryan Randel (6-3, 3.40 ERA, 33 Ks in 45 IP) combined for 13 innings and allowed no earned runs against the Jaguars with three walks and 15 strikeouts.

For the Dons, who finished fifth in the always-tough Orange Empire Conference, posted the biggest "upset" in the opening round of the Southern California Regionals, taking 2-of-3 from No. 3 College of the Canyons.

SAC has six players at or near .300 for the season, including Erick Leef (.329, 54 hits, 13 RBI), Bryan Leef (.320, 49 hits, 35 RBI), Derik Reilly (.307, 51 hits, 15 doubles, 25 RBI), Justin Mellano (.301, 50 hits, 31 RBI), Nathan Flores (.301, 40 hits, 26 RBI) and Julio Rivera (.293, 43 hits, four HR, 25 RBI).

Santa Ana has some arms on the mound that can contend with any postseason rotation in the state. Led by the trio of Guillermo Sanchez (6-3, 3.57 ERA), Nigel Ward (7-5, 3.29 ERA) and Gabe Armstrong (5-2, 3.10 ERA), the Dons' starters have combined for 196 strikeouts over 234 1/3 innings. Look for a lot of work from top reliever Cole Haskins, who is 4-1 with a 2.50 ERA with 32 Ks in 39 2/3 innings over a team-best 25 appearances.

Game 2 of this best-of-three series will take place on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Wendell Pickens Field.