JUNIOR COLLEGE BASEBALL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONALS : Harbor Comes Out Swinging in an 18-5 Trouncing of Pierce

Harbor College entered the Southern California regional baseball playoffs with a robust batting average of .322, while Pierce has had pitching difficulties.

So it was no surprise that Harbor pounded 16 hits, in addition to benefiting from four Pierce errors, during an 18-5 victory Saturday in the first game of a best-of-three series at Harbor.

The second game will be played at 11 a.m. today at Harbor, and a third game will follow, if necessary.

Harbor (29-10) had a nine-day layoff since the end of the regular season, but the Seahawks wasted little time against the Brahmas (22-16).

The Seahawks scored two in the first and four in the second off Dan Rodriguez (6-4), who gave up 11 runs before he was relieved by Osman Khan in the fourth inning.

Harbor first baseman Tristan Paul hit a grand slam and catcher Jeff Poor added a solo homer in the six-run fourth.

Harbor’s Clint Lynch (6-2) scattered eight hits in seven innings, slowing a Piece offense that averaged nine runs per game.

“We figured they were going to score some runs and they hit the ball hard,” Harbor Coach Tony Bloomfield said. “We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. But they were a (state) final-four team last year and I expect them to come back.”

Josh Smaler doubled twice and Bryan Corey doubled once for Pierce. Coach Bob Lofrano said he is not discouraged by the defeat.

“We’re not intimidated by them,” he said. “They played very well and they made the nice plays. But baseball’s a funny game and we get another chance at them.”

Chaffey 2, Mission 1--Jason Myers (13-0) scattered eight hits and struck out eight in a first-round game at Chaffey.

Chaffey (31-10) scored the winning run in the seventh when Justin Long doubled and scored on Ken Overman’s single. Mission (25-14) had tied the score in the fifth when Ernie Bueno squeezed home Jesus Perez.

Mission sophomore right-hander Josh Brown (11-3) went the distance on a seven-hitter.