Long Beach to Face Canyons in Playoffs : Junior college baseball: Pierce and Mission also make bids for state title in regional tournament.

Even Coach Len Mohney wasn’t sure before the season started about his College of the Canyons team’s chances of challenging for the Western State Conference baseball title, much less becoming one of the contenders for the state championship.

“I thought we were going to be competitive,” Mohney said. “I didn’t know how good we were going to be.”

No such uncertainties now.

The Cougars (29-8) won the conference title with a predominantly freshman nucleus and go into this weekend’s Southern California regional seeded No. 2. Canyons will play host to No. 15-seeded Long Beach City (19-18) in one of the eight best-of-three regional series that also include Pierce and Mission.

Pierce (22-15), which tied Valley for second place in the WSC but got the automatic playoff berth because it swept the Monarchs in three conference games, is seeded No. 14 and travels to No. 3 Harbor (28-10). Mission (25-13), the Southern California Athletic Conference runner-up, will play at No. 4 Chaffey (30-10), the Foothill Conference co-champion.

The games will start at 1 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. Sunday. A third game, if necessary, follows about 30 minutes after the second game. The series winners advance to one of two four-team, double-elimination tournaments May 21-23 and those two winners qualify for the state championships May 29-31 at Sacramento City College.

Canyons, state champion in 1981, ’83 and ‘86, and runner-up in ’82 and ’85 under now-USC Coach Mike Gillespie, relies on power and strong pitching. Right-handers R.J. Simone (9-0) and Kevin Foderaro (7-3) and left-hander Jason Chandler (7-1) anchor the pitching staff, and left-handed-hitting first baseman Andy Shaw, who led the WSC with a .500 average, 12 home runs and 50 runs batted in, provides the offensive spark.

The Cougars have not played Long Beach this season, a team that Mohney said could be troublesome.

“They are a little different than us,” Mohney said. “They are a pitcher-defense-oriented team. We are more offense-oriented. But they say good pitching is supposed to stop good hitting, so we’ll see. . . . I think we have as good a chance of making it (to the state championships) as anybody.”

Mission, which led in the Southern California Athletic Conference race most of the season but faltered in the stretch and finished one game behind East L.A., defeated Chaffey, 7-3, in a nonconference home game March 23. But this time the Free Spirit will play at Chaffey’s spacious field (461 feet to center field, 364 to the left-field foul pole), where the Panthers are 16-3 this season.

“I think we match up real well with Chaffey, but they are real hard to beat,” Mission Coach John Klitsner said. “Hopefully, we have the energy and intensity to win.”

The Free Spirit featured one of the leading pitchers in the state, right-handed submariner Josh Brown (11-2, 3.18 earned-run average and seven complete games in 12 starts). Third baseman Robert Garcia (.396 with 30 RBIs), first baseman Marlon McKinney (.388 and 24 RBIs) and outfielder Jesus Perez (.387) spark the offense, with outfielder Rich Avalos (.335, six home runs and 32 RBIs) and second baseman Jose Gallegos (.315, five home runs and 39 RBIs) providing the muscle.

Pierce, one of the four state finalists last season, lost three of its last six games but still squeezed into the playoffs.

The Brahmas are led by third baseman Louis Tapia (.386 and 36 RBIs), first baseman Jason Cohen (.358 and 37 RBIs) and outfielder Josh Smaler (.333 with five home runs and 18 stolen bases). Right-hander Steve Pack (5-2 and 4.29 ERA) and left-hander Danny Rodriguez (6-3, 4.15 ERA), today’s starter, have been the team’s most consistent starters.

“We are going into the lion’s den,” Brahma Coach Bob Lofrano said. “Not only do we have to play Harbor, but we have to play their fans too. They tend to get loud.”