Out of Playoffs : 2 Blowouts Spell End for Harbor

Saturday was a long, grim afternoon for Harbor College’s baseball players. In the end, even the sun outlasted them.

After Rancho Santiago and Palomar College had outscored the Seahawks 23-5--over two games and six-plus hours of baseball--only the waning of the sunlight could have saved Harbor from double elimination in a single day.

Sunset would have suspended the closing chapter in Harbor’s 12-2 blowout loss to Palomar until Sunday morning--and could have given Harbor’s batters overnight to find their strokes.

But in the final verdict, it was El Sol 1, Harbor 0.

The Seahawks’ last three batters went down before the sun did, and with them went Harbor’s chances to move beyond the regional playoffs toward the state community college title.

Palomar’s Mark Mata (3-1) dealt Harbor the death blow with 7 innings of five-hit, shutout pitching at Rancho Santiago College’s Don Field in Santa Ana.

But Harbor Coach Jim O’Brien’s team was already mortally wounded after losing 11-3 in Saturday’s first game to Rancho Santiago, California’s top-ranked community college team.

“We had a letdown subconsciously in that second game,” O’Brien said. “We had lost momentum in the first game, and we never got it back.”

Harbor’s momentum came to a screeching stop in the afternoon heat as Rancho Santiago (36-7) rattled 15 hits off four Seahawk pitchers.

Every starter in Rancho Santiago’s lineup had at least one hit, except slugger Bob Hamelin (the state’s leading hitter with a .521 average and 27 home runs.)

Rancho Santiago southpaw Willie Navarette (10-0) got the win, scattering seven hits over 7 innings.

Harbor managed only one run against Navarette, on an RBI single by Wil Parsons.

The evening finale against Palomar didn’t go any better for Harbor. Palomar (29-12) sent 10 batters to the plate in the first, scoring six off Danny Parente.

The Seahawks managed two runs in the second off Palomar starter John Lane, but the Comets got five more in the sixth on Billy Dunckel’s double and T. J. Flynn’s two-run homer.

It was a frustrating day for Harbor ace Eddie Lopez (7-4), who pitched 8 gutsy innings in the two losses.

The frustration also obviously took its toll on Harbor assistant coach Bob Gauci. He was ejected in the third inning for using abusive language to umpire Mike Gilmore after Parsons struck out on a 3-2 count.

Gauci continued to taunt Gilmore from behind the first base dugout after his ejection.

Palomar will meet Rancho Santiago today at 11 a.m.

The winner will get a berth in the state double-elimination tournament, which begins Friday at UC Irvine.