Canyons Takes a Tumble : Baseball: Long Beach surprises Cougars in playoff opener, 9-2.

Long Beach City College made good use of its opportunistic style Saturday to defeat College of the Canyons, 9-2, in the first game of a best-of-three Southern California regional baseball series at Valencia.

The teams will meet today at 11 a.m. and, if Canyons wins, about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. The winner of the series will advance to one of two four-team, double-elimination tournaments May 21-23 and those winners qualify for the state championships May 29-31 at Sacramento City College.

Canyons (29-9), seeded No. 2 in the regional, collected only three hits and committed five errors.

“We broke down in all aspects of the game,” Canyons Coach Len Mohney said. “I think that kind of sums up the way we played.”

Right-hander Jacob Viano (9-3) limited the Cougars to one hit--a single to center by Chris Pfatenhauer that drove in John Aguilar from second base in the third inning--and gave up only one earned run in six innings.

Pfatenhauer, who had two hits, scored from third with two out when third baseman Richard Alvarez dropped a towering popup by Ari Jacobs.

Long Beach (20-18) scored in the first on a one-out squeeze by designated hitter Scott Wolfenbarger and twice in the second on one hit and three errors--two by shortstop Aguilar. The Vikings added three in the third, two on a double by catcher David Olivas.

“They pretty much did whatever they wanted,” Mohney said. “They like to play the little game and we fell into their hands.”

The Vikings, who got their 13 hits off starter Kevin Foderaro (7-4), scored two more on a bases-loaded error by second baseman Jacobs on a two-out grounder by Alvarez in the fifth inning. Right-fielder Dwight Lewis, who was four for five, drove in Nathan Jones with a single to right in the sixth for Long Beach’s final run.

“We are not a physical group,” Long Beach Coach Lindsay Meggs said. “Our game is to put the ball in play, and if we get a runner, to move him up.”

Foderaro gave up all the runs in eight innings, four of them earned.

The Cougars loaded the bases with two out in the ninth and had slugger Andy Shaw at the plate, but Olivas picked off Aguilar at third to end the game.

Mohney will start right-hander R.J. Simone (9-0) today and will pitch left-hander Jason Chandler (7-1) if there is a second game.