COMMUNITY COLLEGE STATE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Lassen Brings Down High-Flying Cypress

In the course of an afternoon, Cypress went from the highest-flying community college baseball team in the state to one whose season is over with its next loss.

Lassen, behind the impressive pitching of Ryan Sheets, beat Cypress, 7-1, in the first round of the State tournament Saturday at Cerritos College.

Cypress (39-11) plays Chabot at 10 a.m. today at Long Beach College. Josh Belovsky (10-1) will pitch for Cypress. The winner moves back to Cerritos for an afternoon game against the loser of Rancho Santiago-Lassen game. The title game is at 11 a.m. Monday.

“I told the kids to get to bed early,” Cypress Coach Scott Pickler said, “then to plan on a long day, and we’ll see what happens.”

Cypress entered the game as the top-seeded team from Southern California. The Chargers had a 13-game winning streak and had outscored opponents, 50-9, in five playoff games.

Cypress was hitting .307 overall and averaging almost eight runs per game. But all those averages took a beating thanks to Sheets, a right-hander with an 8-1 record.

Sheets limited Cypress to four singles with a consistent slider.

“(Sheets) did a good job,” Pickler said. “He kept us off balance with his slider. You’ve got to tip your hat to him. I’m more concerned that we didn’t make any adjustments at the plate.”

Even the run Cypress scored came with lots of help. Israel Gonzalez reached on a bad-hop single that should have been a ground ball to first base. He went to third as part of a rundown and scored on a balk when Sheets put his hands together, then took them apart without starting his motion.

Cypress starter Aaron France struggled with his control for all of the eight-plus innings he pitched. France (12-4) was coming off one of his best performances of the season, a three-hit shutout of Southwestern. But he had trouble throwing his changeup and curveball for strikes and had to use his fastball more than usual.

The result was seven earned runs and 12 hits, including five doubles.

Lassen (40-9) got its first run on back-to-back doubles by Chris Webb and Tim Howard in the second. Travis Peterson had an RBI groundout and Zack Retallack had an RBI double in the third.

Cypress right fielder Mario Opipari caught a fly, then threw out Retallack as he tried to reach third, ending the inning.

Jim Fritz started the sixth with a double. Scott Flynn, the ninth-place hitter who had three hits, drove in Fritz on a double two outs later.

France gave up a walk and three consecutive singles to start the ninth and was replaced by Josh Negro.

“You can’t fault Aaron France,” Pickler said. “He did a great job for us all year.”