Harbor Powers Way Past MiraCosta, 9-4

They’re only a bunch of little guys, but Harbor College’s baseball team is still putting up big numbers.

Saturday, Harbor defeated visiting MiraCosta College of Oceanside, 9-4, in the second game of the first round of the Southern California community college baseball playoffs.

Only three players in Harbor’s starting lineup Saturday were taller than 6 feet, but that didn’t stop the Seahawks from improving to 45-5.

Harbor, the top-seeded team in the region, advances to next weekend’s regional finals at Riverside City College or Cerritos College.

“You look out there on the field and you can see we don’t have a lot of big guys,” Harbor Coach Jim O’Brien said. “What we have is a bunch of tough kids with a lot of heart. These guys have got their minds made up on going all the way.”

Harbor will be one of eight teams in the two four-team Southern California regional finals tournaments. The two winners of the Southern regionals will play the two Northern regional champions in the state tournament May 25-27 at UC Irvine.

Harbor’s victory ousted MiraCosta (18-20) from the best two-of-three series. Harbor won the first game of the series, 11-5, Friday.

Leading Harbor’s 11-hit attack in Saturday’s game was 5-foot-10 left fielder Matt Nuez, who hit a pair of doubles and a home run. The two-run homer, a team-leading eighth, came in the ninth inning.

Nuez raised his average to .333 and tied the school record for doubles with 16. He also leads the team in runs (52) hits (58) and runs batted in (52).

Center fielder Ryan Karp added a solo homer to center--his sixth. Harbor shortstop Tony Liebsack made nice plays on five tough ground balls behind starting pitcher Jeff Hunter (10-0) and reliever John Ingram. Liebsack made only four errors in Harbor’s conference games.

“Liebsack is as tough as they come,” O’Brien said. “If you hit it to shortstop, you’re going to be out.”

Hunter struggled early, giving up a homer to MiraCosta’s John Wagner on his first pitch. But he settled down to strike out seven in 6 2/3 innings. Ingram, a hard-throwing left-hander who will attend Cal State Fullerton, struck out five.

Harbor never trailed, but its early leads were only 2-1, 3-2, and 6-4. MiraCosta left-hander Paul Jeffers (2-2) kept the score close, but the Seahawks erupted in the eighth and ninth against relievers Brent Hansen and Dan Sudd.

Right-hander Pat Ahearne (11-1) picked up the victory.

The Seahawks, who swept their 20-game Southern California Athletic Conference schedule without a loss, have not lost a game since an April 11 defeat to Diablo Valley in the College of the Sequoias tournament in Visalia.

Mike Murphy went 3 for 4 and catcher Robert Lewis hit a two-run homer to lead Harbor in Friday’s game. Right-hander Pat Ahearne (11-1), who will attend Pepperdine next season, picked up the victory.