NAIA Area 1 Baseball Playoffs : SCC Loses, Must Win 3 to Advance

Linfield College, which lost its first 12 games this season, unexpectedly found itself leading the NAIA Area 1 baseball playoffs at Costa Mesa Thursday with victories over Pacific Lutheran and favored Southern California College.

The Wildcats (16-20), from McMinnville, Ore., defeated Pacific Lutheran, 6-3, in the opening game of the three-team double elimination tournament and then capitalized on four Southern California errors in the second game to overcome Brian Otten’s two-hit performance for a 2-1 victory.

Southern California (40-18-2), which lost the opener of last week’s District 3 playoffs then won its next three, faces another uphill battle. The Vanguards will have to beat Pacific Lutheran (17-17) at 11 a.m. today and then defeat Linfield this afternoon and Saturday for the right to represent the West Coast in the NAIA World Series May 27-June 1 at Lewis-Clark State College at Lewiston, Ida.

The Vanguards woes can be attributed to their infield’s poor defensive play and lack of a hitting attack. This wasted another strong effort by Otten (16-5), who struck out seven, didn’t walk a batter and yielded two unearned runs. Otten pitched 19 innings in three games Saturday to help SCC advance to the West regionals.

Linfield pitcher Dave Lindley (5-2) struck out five, walked four and held the Vanguards to six hits, three in the ninth.

“Today we didn’t play well offensively or defensively,” said Rich Emard, SCC coach.

The Wildcats gained a 1-0 first inning lead when Steve Belt scored on a throwing error. He rounded third base too far on Jeff Jennings’ infield hit, and might have been caught in a rundown, if not for Dean Harvey’s errant throw.

Linfield’s second run came on another throwing error in the second. With runners on first and third, Tom Lippmann, who had reached base on an error, scored on a double steal attempt when the return throw from second sailed into the backstop.

“We had the guy at home, but we throw the ball into the backstop,” Emard said. “We work on that play all the time. We were tight, I could see it. Once we got into the game, we relaxed.”

The Vanguards finally scored in the ninth when Tom Link’s one out single drove home Dave Turney. But with runners on first and second, Jim Collins hit into a force at third and Harvey struck out to end the game.