Oxnard Facing Elimination at Canyons

Oxnard College Coach Jerry White knew that unseating College of the Canyons as Western State Conference baseball champion would not be easy. But impossible?

That might be the reality of the situation when Oxnard and Canyons meet at noon today in the second game of the best-of-three series that Canyons leads, 1-0. If Oxnard wins, the deciding game will be played immediately afterward.

The Cougars (30-7) return to the comfortable confines of home, where they have won 37 games in a row after defeating Oxnard, 2-0, in the opener Thursday at Oxnard.

“Hopefully,” White said, “we’ll make that 37-2 on Saturday.”

It won’t happen unless Oxnard (25-12) can put runs on the scoreboard. The Condors had 15 runners on base in the opening game of the series, loading the bases in the sixth and seventh innings, but were unable to break Canyons left-hander Tim Nedin.

Today they will face sophomore right-hander Pablo Suarez (5-0).

“We’re going to have to come up with some key hits,” Oxnard catcher Tim Laker said. “They’ve won a lot of games at home, but they can be beat. Even there.”