HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL / SOUTHERN SECTION CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES : Diamond Bar Near Final Goal

The Diamond Bar High baseball team carefully outlined its goals for the season in a four-part plan:

--Win a tournament title.

The Brahmas won the Santa Ana tournament in April.

--Win the Sierra League title.

Diamond Bar went undefeated in 14 games and won its first league championship in three seasons.

--Win 20 games during the regular season and advance to the playoffs.

Diamond Bar began postseason play as the top-seeded team in the Southern Section 5-A Division playoffs, having won 24 of 25 games.

--Win the Southern Section 5-A title.

Diamond Bar, 28-1, will try to complete that step tonight at Anaheim Stadium against defending champion Long Beach Millikan at 7:30.

The Brahmas, winners of 25 games in a row, also have the opportunity to become the first top-seeded team in the major division to win the championship since Lakewood in 1970.

Diamond Bar won Southern Section titles in 1985 and 1988, but lost to Huntington Beach Marina in the final in 1990. And the Brahmas needed to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to escape with a 5-4 victory over El Dorado in the semifinals Tuesday.

Jared Janke, a 6-foot-5 right-hander who had 13 strikeouts during a 7-2 quarterfinal victory over Long Beach Jordan, will start against Millikan. He is 11-0 with a 0.67 earned-run average, and his seventh-inning double helped keep Tuesday’s rally alive as he picked up the victory in relief against El Dorado.

“I was so mentally drained, I was still tired when I woke up the next day,” said Janke, the starter in Diamond Bar’s defeat in the 1990 final as a sophomore. “I don’t think we’ll have a letdown (after Tuesday’s game). It was an amazing and uplifting win. I think it will help us, and that momentum will carry over and propel us.”

Millikan also is hoping that its playoff momentum continues.

Millikan, 21-5-1, was undefeated in its first 14 games but struggled in Moore League play, finishing third. In the playoffs, however, the Rams have beaten three league champions, including second-seeded Newhall Hart.

Center fielder Scott Allen, the team’s leadoff hitter with a .430 average, is batting .600 in the playoffs and has driven in seven runs, scored eight runs and stolen eight bases.

Pepperdine-bound Greg Gregory (4-3, 1.92 ERA) will start for Millikan, which has a team batting average of .370. Gregory, a left-hander, has battled an arm injury this season, but was 13-0 as a junior.

“We didn’t feel any pressure or that anybody wrote us off (after finishing third),” Millikan Coach Dan Peters said. “I think we’re an underdog, but I’m just proud to have another chance for a title.”

Baseball Notes

Temecula Valley (23-4) will play San Marino (20-4) in the 2-A final at 10 a.m. at Anaheim Stadium, followed by Corona (18-13) and Norwalk (17-7) in the 3-A championship at 1 p.m. and Irvine (20-10) and West Covina South Hills (19-9) in the 4-A game at 4:30. . . . Norwalk Coach Bob Billinger was the first-base umpire in the 1988 5-A final at Anaheim Stadium. . . . Pat Lodes of South Hills (.420) has reached base 11 times in 16 at-bats during the playoffs, and teammate Tray Nelson has been on base nine times in 16 at-bats, hitting two home runs and driving in eight runs. . . . Corona is making its first appearance in a baseball championship game in the school’s 100-year history. San Marino is seeking its second 2-A championship in three seasons, and South Hills is making its third appearance in five years in the 4-A final.