Huston’s Homer in 10th Lifts Pierce, 11-10 : College baseball: Brahmas eliminate Harbor, must defeat Cypress twice today to advance to state final four.

Pierce College continued to excel in the high-pressure foundry that is postseason competition, forging a dramatic 11-10 victory Saturday over Harbor on a three-run home run by Pat Huston in the bottom of the 10th inning.

The win eliminated Harbor, the defending state champion, from the Southern California regional and keeps the Brahmas kicking in their quest for a berth in the state final four.

Pierce (25-14) will play Cypress (32-14) today at 11 a.m.

The Brahmas lost to Cypress, 15-3, in the morning game Saturday and need to defeat Cypress twice today to win the four-team double-elimination second round, which is being held at Harbor.

Harbor (35-9), ranked No. 1 in Southern California and the three-time state champion, was considered the visitor despite playing on its home field.

For Harbor, giving the last at-bat to Pierce was like giving David Letterman the last word.

Harbor took a 10-8 lead in the 10th on David Jund’s two-run home run but could not hold off Pierce’s comeback kids.

“When their guy hit the two-run home run, we just sat in our dugout and said, ‘That will make our comeback more amazing,’ ” Pierce co-Coach Bob Lofrano said. “How many chances can you get? The good thing about this game is there’s no buzzer to end it.”

In a moment of baseball felicity, Pierce had the right man at the plate at the right time when Huston, Pierce’s slugger, stepped up in the 10th.

With one out and two runners on base, Huston sent the second pitch, an outside fastball, soaring over the fence in center field for the game-winning home run.

After a few quick steps down the first-base line, he raised his arms in triumph.

“Once you see the outfielder run back, I knew the wind would carry it out,” Huston said. “I’ve never hit a game-winning home run, so it was a great moment.”

Huston, drafted by the Cubs a year ago, can sign a pro contract as soon as the season ends, but for at least another day his professional career has been, well, Cubbyholed.

He never would have had the opportunity were it not for the heroics of a player who seemed to be the wrong guy at the wrong time.

Little-used Chris Inglehart was pressed into duty when Carl McFadden broke his hand in the third inning Friday against Citrus.

Inglehart was hitless in nine at-bats on the weekend when he stepped to the plate with one out, the bases loaded and Pierce trailing, 8-5, in the eighth.

Joe Cascione relieved some of the pressure by scoring on a passed ball, and Inglehart worked the count full before poking a two-run single into center to tie the score, 8-8.

“I was confident, but in the back of my mind I had the whole day where I hadn’t hit anything,” Inglehart said. “I kind of said to myself, ‘You’ve got to do something for the team.’ ”

Pierce came back from deficits of 6-3, 7-4, and 8-5.

Danny Rodriguez, a left-handed freshman pitcher, helped keep Pierce in the game.

Rodriguez entered with Pierce behind, 8-5, with two runners on and none out in the eighth. He struck out the first batter he faced, intentionally walked the next to load the bases, then struck out the next two to end the inning.

After pitching a scoreless ninth, Rodriguez gave up the home run in the 10th and was relieved by Louis Birdt (5-0), who recorded the final two outs.

In the morning game, Cypress had 15 hits, seven for extra bases, off four Pierce pitchers.

Having fallen behind early, Pierce closed the gap to 7-3 after four innings. Cypress answered with five runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach.