SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Huntington Beach, Mater Dei Attempt to Overtake Nation’s No. 1 Team

Huntington Beach is seeded third and Mater Dei fourth in the Southern Section 5-A division baseball playoffs that open today with qualifying games. First-round games are Friday.

Diamond Bar (24-1), which suffered its only loss to Huntington Beach in the championship game of the Loara tournament, is seeded No. 1. Hart (22-2) is seeded second.

Diamond Bar, which features pitchers Jared Janke and Mike Corominas and All-American catcher Karl Thompson, is the top-ranked team in the nation, according to Baseball America.

The 5-A division has 12 teams that won 18 or more games during the season. In the past 21 years, the division’s top-seeded team has never won the championship. Lakewood was the last top-seeded team to win the title, in 1970.

There are two interesting matchups in the first round. Marina (12-15), the 5-A division champion in 1990, travels to Mater Dei (21-4). Huntington Beach (22-3), the county’s top-ranked team, plays host to Cypress (13-12-1), which is making its first playoff appearance in 13 years.

Defending champion Capistrano Valley is the county’s only seeded team in the 4-A division. The Cougars (20-5) are seeded third behind top-seeded Rio Mesa (17-5-2) and Gahr (19-7).

El Toro (12-12) will play host to Villa Park (11-12-2) and Buena Park (11-11) will travel to Cerritos (13-6) in qualifying-round games today.

Sea View League members Tustin (17-7) and Saddleback (19-6) are seeded third and fourth in the 3-A division. Perennial power El Segundo, under Coach John Stevenson, is the top-seeded team at 25-2. Stevenson has won 709 games in 33 years, the most in state history.

Santiago (15-10) will travel to Bellflower (15-6), and Estancia (11-13) will travel to Harvard-Westlake (14-11) for qualifying-round games today.

Orange Lutheran (19-4) drew the fourth seed in the 1-A division, where Moorpark (17-3) is the top-seeded team. Orange Lutheran is led by first baseman Jason Pressley and pitcher Matt Hendren.

No county schools were seeded in the small schools division, where Liberty Christian (16-3) is considered the area’s strongest entry.

Pairings involving Orange County teams:

Today’s Qualifying Games:

Division 4-A--Villa Park at El Toro, Buena Park at Cerritos.

Division 3-A--Santiago at Bellflower, Estancia at North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake.

Small Schools--Claremont at St. Margaret’s.

Friday’s First-Round Games:

Division 5-A--Montebello Schurr at Fountain Valley, Redlands at El Dorado, Marina at Mater Dei, Cypress at Huntington Beach, Katella at Palos Verdes Peninsula, Santa Margarita at Lakewood.

Division 4-A--El Toro-Villa Park winner at Covina Northview, Foothill at Upland, Valencia at Irvine, Sunny Hills at Torrance, Cerritos-Buena Park winner at Capistrano Valley, West Covina South Hills at Brea-Olinda, Moreno Valley Canyon Springs at Canyon, Santa Maria Righetti at Fullerton, Savanna at Cerritos Gahr.

Division 3-A--Santiago-Bellflower winner at Whittier La Serna, Laguna Hills at Kennedy, Norwalk at Saddleback, Pico Rivera El Rancho-Rosemead winner at Tustin, Garden Grove at Santa Fe Springs Santa Fe, Corona del Mar at El Monte, Ontario-Corona winner at Trabuco Hills, Estancia-Harvard Westlake winner at La Mirada.

Division 1-A--Templeton-Agoura Oak Park winner at Orange Lutheran.

Small Schools--Southern California Christian at Liberty Christian, San Marino Southwestern-North Hollywood Oakwood winner at California Lutheran, St. Margaret’s-Claremont winner at Calvary Chapel.