Cypress Top-Seeded in Baseball Playoffs

Cypress, the Orange Empire Conference champion, is the top-seeded baseball team in the Southern California playoff pairings, which were announced Monday.

Cypress (34-10) plays host to East Los Angeles (22-18) in the best-of-three series starting at noon Saturday.

Riverside, the second-place team in the Orange Empire Conference, third-place Rancho Santiago and fourth-place Saddleback also made the playoffs.

Rancho Santiago is the defending State champion. Cypress won the title in 1991.

Riverside (31-9), the No. 6-seeded team, plays host to No. 11 Cerritos (27-13); No. 10 Rancho Santiago (32-11) is at No. 7 Los Angeles Mission (26-15) and No. 12 Saddleback (23-14-1) is at No. 5 Cuesta (32-11).

Los Angeles Harbor (29-12), the No. 2-seeded team, plays host to No. 15 L.A. Pierce (26-15); No. 14 San Diego Mesa (22-13-1) is at No. 3 Citrus (32-5); No. 13 Bakersfield (25-16) is at No. 4 Southwestern (34-7-1) and No. 9 Chaffey (33-8) is at No. 8 Mt. San Antonio (27-14).

The eight winners advance to the second round May 20-22. Two teams move on to the State tournament May 28-30 at Cerritos College.