Orange Coast College

Baseball: Pirates earn No. 2 seed; playoff opener set for Friday at OCC

Monday, May 04, 2009

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College baseball team has earned a No. 2 seeding for the 2009 CCCAA State Baseball Playoffs and will open regional action on Friday at OCC's Wendell Pickens Field, beginning at 2 p.m.

The lower four seeds -- No. 15 Ventura (26-16), No. 16 Rio Hondo (24-16), No. 17 Citrus (24-16) and No. 18 Chaffey (29-13) -- will compete on Tuesday. The highest remaining seeded team will play at OCC on Friday and Saturday, with the lowest remaining seed playing at top-seed Palomar.

The Pirates finished the regular season 29-13 and shared the Orange Empire Conference title with No. 4 seed Cypress and No. 5 seed Santa Ana. Coast earned the higher seed thanks to its 2-1 record against the Chargers and Dons.

The other team to qualify for the postseason from the Orange Empire Conference is ninth-seeded Saddleback (27-17), giving the OEC four teams in the top-10.

OCC played 23 games this year against teams that earned a trip to the playoffs, going 13-10 against them, with an 8-3 record over the past 11 matchups.

Among the lower four seeds, OCC's lone contest came on Feb. 24, where the Pirates topped Chaffey, 12-9.

The opening round of the playoffs is a best-of-three matchup with the opening game on Friday and a doubleheader (if needed) on Saturday.

If the Pirates win this weekend's series, they will host the Super Regionals, slated for May 15-17. The Super Regionals is a four-team, double elimination tournament, with the winning team advancing to the State Final Four (May 23-25 at Fresno City College).