Pierce’s Raba Becomes Pitcher Perfect : College baseball: After so-so season at Ventura, the right-hander transfers and posts a 12-0 record for Brahmas.

Pierce College baseball Coach Bob Lofrano learned of Eric Raba’s interest in transferring to Pierce just two weeks before the school year began last September.

Raba, a former Camarillo High standout, was coming off a 4-6 freshman campaign at Ventura College, a season of discontent for him because his role changed from a starter to a reliever midway through the season.

With four solid starters projected to spearhead the Pierce staff, Raba’s chances of breaking into the rotation seemed remote. Already in line were Chris Brown, Mike Eby, Danny Rodriguez and Robby Welles.

“You always want to be up front with a player,” Lofrano said. “But as a coach you know you can never have enough pitching.”

Little did Lofrano or Raba know that about nine months later the 6-foot-3, 185-pound right-hander would own a 12-0 record for a Pierce team that today will make its first appearance in the state junior college championship tournament. Pierce (33-6-1) will play Sacramento City today at 3 p.m. in a first-round game of the four-team, double-elimination tournament at the Riverside Sports Complex. Fresno City (42-7) and Cuesta (25-16) will meet at 11 a.m.

Raba, 19, nudged his way into Pierce’s three-man rotation after Welles sustained a shoulder injury and Rodriguez was lost to academic ineligibility. “I can’t believe it,” Raba said of his 12-0 record. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. It just seems so far out there.”

Eby (8-1), a left-hander bound for Cal State Sacramento, will start for Pierce today. Raba, who has signed with Cal State Northridge, will put his unblemished record on the line Sunday in a second-round game. Waiting in the wings as either a reliever or starter is Brown (9-3).

“That’s why we’re playing this weekend, because of those three guys,” Lofrano said.

Raba has taken the mound 13 times and has emerged with a “W” all but once. On the other occasion, he completed a planned three-inning stint in a nonconference win over Saddleback.

Using a fastball, curve and changeup, Raba has struck out 59 and walked 35 in 98 innings. His earned-run average is 3.13.

“Probably, by the fifth or sixth win, I was feeling like I was going pretty good,” Raba said. “I’m pretty much the same pitcher (as last year). I just love to win.”

He has received plenty of support from a team that is hitting .310 and averages 8.4 runs a game.

Against Rancho Santiago in last week’s Southern regional tournament, Pierce and Raba were trailing, 4-1, in the eighth when Welles hit a game-tying three-run homer. The Brahmas won it in the ninth.

“With this team, you know that as long as we get 27 outs we have a shot,” Raba said.

In drawing Sacramento, Pierce finds itself pitted against a team that finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the state by the J.C. Athletic Bureau.

The Panthers feature a pitching staff that finished the season with an eye-opening ERA of 1.97. Like Pierce, Sacramento has three quality starters: Brian Brewer (6-2, 1.52 ERA), Darrell May (7-0, 2.51) and Gary Thomas (8-0, 1.75).

Pierce catcher Adam Pearlman could be in for a busy day; the Panthers have 111 stolen bases to Pierce’s 46. Sacramento’s Jason McDonald has 34 stolen bases in 36 attempts.

Winners of today’s games will meet at noon Sunday at the Sports Complex; the losers will play at noon at Riverside College.

A second losers’-bracket game will be held at 4 p.m. Sunday to determine which team will advance to Monday’s 11 a.m. championship.

Fresno City features the state’s top hitter in Chris Saunders, who enters the tournament batting .510 (76 for 149) with nine homers, 58 runs batted in and a .668 on-base percentage. The Rams outscored their opponents, 50-10, during three games in the regional finals.

The surprise team is Cuesta, the only unranked team in the regional to advance to the final four. The Cougars finished fourth in the Western State Conference but earned a berth in the playoffs by beating Ventura in the WSC tournament.

Pierce beat Cuesta by one run in each of their two regular-season meetings.