Pierce Cruises to Title : Baseball: Brahmas win WSC South Division crown outright with 11-4 victory over Mission.

Pierce College had a chance to control its own destiny Saturday, and that’s exactly what the Brahmas did.

Powered by a five-run third inning, Pierce cruised to an 11-4 victory over visiting Mission to win the Western State Conference South Divison baseball title.

Pierce, 25-16 overall and 20-6 in conference play, entered the WSC finale assured of at least a share of the title, holding a one-game lead over Bakersfield.

But winning the title outright was important to Pierce Coach Bob Lofrano.

“We won this thing legitimately today,” Lofrano said.

“Even after we started the season 2-10, this team stayed together and didn’t point fingers.”

Pierce ended the regular season with an eight-game winning streak. The Brahmas will make their fifth consecutive appearance in the state playoffs next week.

Pierce errors helped spot Mission a 2-0 lead in the third. But the Brahmas recovered in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of control problems by Mission pitcher John Romero.

After the Brahmas scored a run, back-to-back walks issued by Romero with the bases loaded gave them a 3-2 lead. Pierce pitcher Rusty Howard followed with a two-run single to left to make the score 5-2.

Pierce put away Mission by scoring two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth.

With the exception of a two-run home run by Art Diaz, his sixth, Howard (5-1) held Mission in check, allowing six hits.

Brandon Nickens finished up for Pierce, allowing one hit in the final two innings.

Mission finished 12-30, 8-18 in the WSC.

“It was a rough season for us,” Spirit Coach John Klistner said. “It would have been nice to have been a little more competitive, since this is our first year in the league.

“At the beginning of the year we thought our pitching was going to be pretty good, but both guys had elbow troubles. Romero is only just getting over his injury, and Ray Rivera wasn’t at full strength either.”

Lofrano had no such complaints about Pierce’s pitching.

“Rusty pitched a heck of a game today, and he is going to figure prominently in the playoffs come next week,” Lofrano said. “He was in the bullpen earlier this year, but he’s too good of a pitcher to have sitting there.

“We’ve been a streaky team this season, but lately we’ve had some double-digit games for runs. To close out conference play on a winning note like we did is nice.”