COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Second-Round Game Centers on Attitude

Rancho Santiago and Cypress come into Friday’s Southern California baseball regional game with much different attitudes about their playoff histories.

Rancho Santiago, which has won four consecutive Orange Empire Conference titles, would like to forget the frustrations of the last five years.

Cypress Coach Scott Pickler has a chance to regale his players with the tale of the Chargers’ unlikely State title run in 1991.

That season, Cypress finished third in conference, won a regional at Los Angeles Harbor to reach the State tournament, then twice upset Sacramento, the strong favorite, to take the championship.

This year, the teams play at 3 p.m. at Rancho Santiago in the second round. Chaffey (32-9) takes on Riverside (30-14) at 11 a.m. Friday on the same field in the double-elimination tournament, which concludes Sunday with the title game at 11 a.m.

The Dons (35-8) have been one of the final eight teams in Southern California every season since 1988. But that was the last year the team advanced to the State tournament.

“This is a completely different club,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “But we’re ready to play and see what happens. There are four quality teams in this thing. You wish it didn’t come down to how you are playing on one day but it has to be that way.”

Pickler agreed. “It’s a matter of who gets hot for two weeks,” he said.

Rancho Santiago has the deepest pitching staff. The Dons are expected to start sophomore right-hander Ryan Filbeck (6-1) today against Cypress’ Aaron France (5-2). Filbeck is coming off a complete-game, 6-0 victory over Palomar last Saturday.

Brandon Hoalton, a freshman right-hander with a 10-0 record, and Jason Dietrich (5-1), a sophomore right-hander, are the other starters. Dietrich leads the staff in strikeouts with 93 in 92 1/3 innings.

Steve Thobe has 10 saves, one short of the Rancho Santiago career mark set in 1991 by his brother J.J.

Rancho Santiago beat Cypress four times this season but each game was close.

Cypress (29-16) hit .313 as a team and Kevin Clark leads at .401. He has 10 home runs and 60 runs batted in. Greg Tippin hit .333 with 11 home runs and 48 RBIs for Cypress and Eric Stevens hit .361, Keith McDonald .352 and Ryan Hamilton .352.

The Chargers’ starters struggled at times, but reliever Mike DesRoches is 6-1 with eight saves, a single-season school record.

Chaffey and Riverside are hardly also-rans in this regional.

Chaffey’s Jason Myers, a sophomore left-hander, is 12-1 with five saves and has 130 strikeouts in 108 innings. His ERA is 2.66.

Riverside’s Eric Thomas, an outfielder, is one of the most dynamic players in Southern California. Thomas is hitting .384 with three home runs and has driven in 34 runs. He has also 39 of 41 on stolen-base attempts.

Jason Whittle (8-3) or Jeff Barker (7-2) is expected to start today for the Tigers.

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Orange Coast (26-19) is also in the regionals, traveling to Los Angeles Harbor Friday for a 3 p.m. game against San Diego Mesa (29-13). Both teams had to sweep doubleheaders Sunday to advance.

L.A. Harbor (30-11) plays Long Beach (21-18) at 3 p.m. Friday.

Orange Coast, which set a single-season record for errors, didn’t made one in the 18-8 victory over San Bernardino Valley in the second game Sunday.

“The real key for this team is to continue to play defense the way we did Sunday,” first-year Coach John Altobelli said.

Seven starters are batting .311 or better and OCC is hitting .308 as a team. Paul McDaniels leads at .377. Jason Parsons is second at .368 and leads in hits (56) home runs (seven), RBIs (51), walks (39) and slugging percentage (.592).

McDaniels and Curtis Bruce are tied for the team lead in stolen bases with 16.

Phil Jensen (7-1) tops the pitching staff. Kyle Wilson (5-6) had 12 strikeouts in his most recent start.