COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Mt. SAC Next Obstacle for Rancho Santiago

Rancho Santiago’s baseball team is in a familiar position today. But the Dons hope to advance to a somewhat unfamiliar one later this month.

The Dons (28-12), who play Mt. San Antonio (29-15) at 11 a.m. today in the second round of the Southern California regional playoffs, have reached that round in each of the last five years. But during that span, Rancho Santiago has advanced to the State tournament only once--in 1988.

In today’s other second-round game at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Riverside (28-13) plays Pierce (30-6-1) at 3 p.m.

In the Southern California regional at Cerritos College, Los Angeles Harbor (35-10) plays East Los Angeles (28-14) at 11 a.m. and Cuesta (22-15) plays Cerritos (29-8-1) at 3 p.m.

The winners of each double-elimination regional advance to the State tournament, May 23-25, at the Riverside Sports Complex, along with the two Northern California regional winners.

“This year more than any other, I think anybody is capable of winning and moving on,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “Everybody seems to have a strong asset, but then they have a weakness as well.”

Rancho Santiago’s strength is clearly its pitching. Starters Mike Fontana, J.J. Thobe and David Goldstein have been impressive throughout the season.

Fontana, the Orange Empire Conference pitcher of the year, is 12-0 and a victory shy of tying the school’s single-season record of 13, set by Mike Schwabe in 1986. Schwabe later pitched at Arizona State and for the Detroit Tigers. He is currently in the Twins’ minor league organization.

Thobe, who underwent major reconstructive shoulder surgery about two years ago, is 9-3, including a six-hit, 5-4 victory over Palomar in the first round of the regionals.

Goldstein, who is 4-6 and didn’t pitch in the first round of the regionals, but may be called on as early as today. Sneddon hasn’t said which of the three he will start in the first game.

“I think you have to roll the dice a little bit,” he said. “You have to play to win the tournament, not just your first game.”

Tournament Notes

The winners of today’s games meet at 11 a.m. Saturday at L.A. Pierce. The losers meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at Moorpark College. The championship game is 11 a.m. Sunday at Pierce. . . . Utility player David Gonzalez (.383) and catcher Robin Lindsey (.380) have the highest batting averages among Rancho Santiago regulars. Lindsey leads the team with six home runs and third baseman Derek Brown is tops with 29 runs batted in.