SCC Baseball Making News With Victories

The Southern California College baseball team has received national, and even international, attention this season because of the performance of pitcher Ila Borders, the first woman to win a college baseball game.

But until recently the Vanguards weren’t doing anything to warrant another look. They lost their first seven Golden State Athletic Conference games and were showing few signs of life.

That was before SCC won six of its last seven conference games, including doubleheader sweeps of then second-place Azusa Pacific and first-place Westmont.

“I think we’re playing more free and easy because we thought we were out of it,” SCC Coach Charlie Phillips said. “But now we’re in fourth place.”

The Vanguards (16-22, 6-8 in the GSAC) have moved back into contention for a spot in the NAIA District 3 playoffs. With six games--doubleheaders against Cal Baptist (8-5), Concordia (5-9) and Point Loma Nazarene (8-5)--remaining in the regular season, SCC is three games behind Westmont (9-5).

“We’re lucky to be in it, but take away some of our early losses and we might be in first place now,” said Phillips, noting that three of the Vanguards’ first seven losses were by one run.

The top three conference teams automatically qualify for the four-team district playoffs. The final playoff team will either be the conference’s fourth-place team or one of the independents, Biola or The Master’s.

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Phillips said the turnaround came after he made some defensive switches. Jason Brissey moved from shortstop to third, Jason Albrand from second to short and Augie Pena from designated hitter to second base.

“Since then we’ve played extremely well on defense,” Phillips said.

The pitching has been notably strong: Entering the week, the Vanguards led the district in team earned-run average at 3.45, which dropped to 3.37 after giving up two earned runs in 13 innings of a 4-3 victory over Concordia on Tuesday.

Phillips used four pitchers, his entire full-time pitching staff, Tuesday. Borders started and left after six innings tied, 3-3. Rick Homutoff pitched into the ninth and was relieved by Jeff Beckley, who pitched a perfect 3 2/3, striking out seven of the 11 batters he faced, including six in a row. Paul Gutierrez (4-6) pitched the 13th to earn the victory.

Despite his 3-6 record, Beckley, a 6-foot-4 left-hander from Trabuco Hills High, is the ace. He leads the team in innings pitched (88 1/3) and strikeouts (69) and has a 2.99 ERA.

Homutoff, who entered the week with the third-best ERA in the district, lowered it to 2.01.

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Concordia Coach Jackie Schniepp was ejected in the bottom of the 13th Tuesday after arguing a balk call against Eagle reliever Jake Miller.

Miller, a left-hander, has picked off 17 runners this season without being called for a balk, but Schniepp was arguing more than the call.

Schniepp said the same umpire had made a bad call in a game earlier this season, which led to a loss to Cal State San Bernardino. And in the first inning Tuesday the umpire made a call that cost the Eagles a run.

“I just thought this was the third case of over-umpiring, so I brought up the other two calls and he threw me out of the game,” said Schniepp, who noted it was the first time he had been ejected from a game as a coach.

Concordia (15-23-1), still in the race for a playoff spot, plays at Azusa Pacific on Saturday.

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Let’s play three: The Southern California College softball team had a productive day against Azusa Pacific Saturday. The Vanguards swept a doubleheader from the Cougars and completed a suspended game by scoring a run in the 10th inning for a 4-3 victory.

With the sweep, SCC (39-8, 12-2 in conference) moved within a victory of clinching its second consecutive conference title. The Vanguards, who are ranked eighth in the NAIA national poll, finish the regular season on Saturday with a doubleheader at second-place Cal Baptist (7-3).

“The sweep was a confidence booster,” SCC co-Coach Bekki Turner said. “But the kids are well aware that it isn’t over. Even if we win the conference title we still will see these teams in the district playoffs.”

Pitcher Beth Howard, who won all three of the games with Azusa Pacific, was named NAIA national pitcher of the week. Howard, a senior from Cypress High, had a 5-0 record, striking out 30 and giving up four earned runs in 30 innings. Howard also was named the conference and district player of the week.

Notes

Indicative of the transition the Chapman athletic department is making is that all but one of its spring sports teams finish their seasons this week. NCAA Division III programs play shorter seasons than their Division II counterparts. The women’s track and field team, which is at the Azusa Pacific invitational Saturday, finishes May 7 at the Cal Poly Pomona invitational. The men’s and women’s tennis teams are at the Ojai tournament, which started Thursday. The softball team lost two games to Cal Lutheran, Monday, and finished 27-17. The baseball team, which played 54 games and finished in late May last year, lost to UC San Diego Tuesday to finish the season 10-25-1. The Panthers, who lost their first 10 games of the season, finished with an eight-game losing streak. Chapman’s pitcher James Thomas, the only senior on the team, took the loss, dropping his record to 2-8, despite a 3.63 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 86 2/3 innings.