Pierce Faces Rough Road; No Picnic for Mission at Home

Mission and Pierce colleges face stiff competition in the Southern California junior college baseball Southern regional today and Sunday.

Mission (26-15), seeded seventh, will play host to defending state champion Rancho Santiago (33-10), and Pierce (26-15) will travel to Harbor (29-12) in a pair of best-of-three series. The games today start at noon and doubleheaders--if necessary--are scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.

Sixteen teams will play in the first round. This weekend’s eight winners will advance to the second round on May 21-22 and the four survivors will qualify for the eight-team state championships May 28-30 at Cerritos.

The Free Spirit won the Southern California Athletic Conference title and set a school record for victories. However, the team got no favors from the seeding committee, drawing No. 10 Rancho Santiago. The Dons lost only two nonconference games.

Mission will pitch right-hander Ray Rivera (12-2, 2.38 earned-run average) today. The Dons are expected to counter with right-hander Brandon Hoalton (11-2, 2.73).

Pierce, seeded 15th, has to visit Harbor for the second consecutive year in the first round. The Seahawks, seeded second, eliminated Pierce in three games last season.

Seven Seahawk players have committed to Division I schools. One of them is right-hander Mark Chavez (9-2, 2.70), who will attend Cal State Fullerton next season. He will face Brahma left-hander Adam West (10-4, 2.95) today.

Harbor will be without preseason All-American catcher Jeff Poor, who is recovering from stab wounds suffered in a fight at a party, Coach Tony Bloomfield said.