Piercing Finish Gives Brahmas South Crown

On Tuesday, Pierce College was fighting for second place in the Western State Conference South Division baseball race.

On Saturday, the Brahmas were celebrating the culmination of an improbable late-season surge that resulted in their first Western State Conference South Division title since 1995.

Pierce scored 10 runs in the seventh inning and defeated Valley, 12-1, at Valley.

The Brahmas earned their seventh playoff appearance in eight years.

Pierce (23-15, 16-10 in conference play) won its final two games--including a 7-6 victory over Glendale on Thursday--to finish in a first-place tie with the Vaqueros (24-13, 16-10).

The Brahmas earned the division title by virtue of three victories over Glendale in five meetings.

Pierce advances to the state tournament next week.

Glendale, which clinched a tie for first with a victory Tuesday over Canyons only to lose its final two games, probably will advance as an at-large entry.

Barry Matthews had two two-run doubles and Jared Hertz had a three-run home run as Pierce sent 14 batters to the plate in the seventh and collected 10 hits.

Matthews had three hits and drove in four runs. Hertz, Josh Harris, Micah Berger, David Lusk and Brian Menkin each had two hits for Pierce.

Matthews (5-4) scattered 11 hits and struck out six.

Dylan Forman had four hits for Valley (12-25, 9-17).

Pierce won WSC South titles in 1991, ‘92, ’94 and ’95.

In other baseball games:

Canyons 15, Bakersfield 7--The Cougars rallied from a 6-2 deficit after three innings in a WSC South Division game at Bakersfield.

Craig Hennes, David Soto and Brandon Hernandez hit home runs for Canyons (24-15, 15-11).

Hennes’ three-run homer in the fifth pulled Canyons to within 6-5 and Hernandez’s two-run shot in the sixth gave the Cougars a 7-6 lead.

Kris Yeaman, Jesse Daggett and Nick Katzenstein each had three hits to pace a 19-hit attack by Canyons. Soto and Jesse Alvarado each had two hits.

Left-hander Jeremy Shields (8-1) allowed six runs and 10 hits in five innings.

Mike Preski pitched two scoreless innings and Wayne Mahaffey pitched the final two innings to record a school-record 52nd appearance in his two-year career.

Hancock 11, Oxnard 4--Shawn Fossen had two hits, stole two bases and scored a run, and Matt Pesso had two hits and drove in a run but the Condors lost a WSC North Division game at Hancock.

Oxnard (27-11, 18-7) finished second in the division, Hancock third. Both schools hope to qualify for the regional playoffs.

Gonzaga 15-9, Pepperdine 11-8--Gonzaga recorded its first win over Pepperdine and first sweep of the Waves in a West Coast Conference doubleheader at Gonzaga.

Gonzaga (14-32, 8-18) collected 16 hits, including four home runs in the first game. In the second game, Pepperdine (29-20, 18-8) scored two runs in the eighth inning to pull even, 8-8, but lost on a wild pitch by reliever Will Ohman in the 10th inning.

Southern California College 9, The Master’s 3--Josh Higgins (4-2) had a one-hitter through six innings before the Vanguards scored nine runs in the seventh inning to eliminate the Mustangs in the NAIA Far West Regional playoffs late Friday at Azusa Pacific.

The Master’s (34-10) had a 3-0 lead before the Vanguards (24-22) had their big inning.

SOFTBALL

CS Northridge 17-7, Utah State 3-2--The Matadors had 33 hits, including five home runs, while sweeping a Big West Conference doubleheader at Logan, Utah.

Augrista Belford, who had six hits in the doubleheader, and Laura Redding each had three hits in the second game for the Matadors (36-17, 21-9), who protected their Big West lead.

Jessica Creith and Chelo Lopez hit home runs for Northridge in the second game.

Lopez had two home runs and five RBIs in the doubleheader. The senior first baseman leads the Big West with 11 home runs and 40 RBIs.

Cheri Shinn (13-7) pitched a four-hitter in game two.

In the first game, Northridge had 19 hits, three each from Shinn and Belford, in a game shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Lopez and Traci Gallian each had two hits and four RBIs, including a home run.

Elizabeth Sanches also homered for the Matadors.

Sanches and Redding each had two hits.

Tara Glaister (18-9) allowed two earned runs on six hits in four innings.

Utah State is 16-25, 10-18 in the Big West.

The Matadors finish their regular season on Tuesday with a Big West Conference doubleheader at 1 p.m. at UC Santa Barbara.

SWIMMING

Community College State Championships--Tomer Cagan of Ventura won the men’s 1,650 freestyle championship with a time of 16:09.81 at Ventura College.

Cagan, a freshman from Camarillo High, easily outdistanced second-place Nils Nehrenheim of El Camino, who finished in 16:25.16.

Josh Heinz of Riverside placed third in 16:36.42.

Cagan won WSC championships this season in the 200, 500 and 1650 freestyles. Cagan’s time of 1:42.98 in the 200 set a conference record.

Mike Scarcelli of Valley placed second in the 100 freestyle with a time of 46.15.

Ventura finished seventh in team competition with 171 points. Golden West won with 614 points.

In the women’s competition, Marissa Roarty and Loriann Turner of Ventura placed third in the 100 butterfly and 100 breaststroke. Roarty recorded a time of 1:00.42. Turner swam in 1:06.34.

Ventura finished second to Riverside in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:51.94.

Ventura placed seventh in the 200 freestyle relay in 1:43.84.

Riverside won the women’s competition with 389 1/2 points and Ventura was fourth (253).