Playoff Seed Assured, But Baseball's Offense Slumping As Regular Season Ends

Note--Check our official Twitter site @PCCAthletics for when the SoCal Regional Playoff Seedings are announced 

The good news for the state #14-ranked Pasadena City College baseball team is that it has clinched a Southern California Regional Playoff seed due to its high RPI. The bad news for the Lancers is their offense slumped in the last two weeks, resulting in losing five of their last six games in South Coast Conference play.

On Friday in the team's final regular season game and final home game at Brookside Park's Jackie Robinson Field, seventh-placed Cerritos became the first opponent in 40 games to shut out the Lancers, 4-0, as Falcons' pitchers Justin Almeda (eight innings) and Dawson Holbrook combined on a 2-hitter. The Falcons, who won 7-6 v. PCC on Thursday, won the 3-game series over the Lancers, 2-games-to-1.

PCC finished the regular season at 27-13 and places fourth in the SCC with a 15-9 mark. Cerritos closed its year at 13-26 and 8-16 in conference. 

Ironically, the Lancers were victorious in both series v. the 2022 co-South Coast champions in Mt. San Antonio (won 2-of-3) and Long Beach City (won 2-of-3).

Under the direction of head coach Pat McGee, Pasadena qualified for the postseason for the fourth straight season. The Lancers currently are #9 in the South Region RPI standings, a tool used to rate both at-large teams for postseason bids as well as the conference champions throughout the region who receive automatic bids (if co-champ, the higher seed awarded between the two). Eighteen teams will make the SoCal Playoffs. 

PCC previously made the playoffs in 2017, 2018, 2019 and there were no playoffs held in the shortened 2020 season while the 2021 season was cancelled altogether due to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the finale loss to Cerritos, PCC starter Coleman Mitchell threw six shutout innings in dueling v. Cerritos' Almeda, but Falcons' third baseman Delvan Gomez broke the scoreless game in the seventh with a 2-run triple down the left field line. The Falcons scored four in the inning. The Lancers offense mustered just singles by third baseman Toshiki Kuriya in the first and first baseman Jake Trabbie in the fourth. 

Mitchell finished with a quality start on 6.1 innings, seven hits and three runs allowed and lefty reliever Chase Pedersen threw a strong 1.2 innings of scoreless ball. 

The two hits were a team season low just a day after PCC matched its previous season low with just five hits in the team's loss at Cerritos. In that game, PCC trailed 6-3 but tied it with three runs in the seventh thanks to a bases-loaded walk to Trabbie and RBI singles by rightfielder Kenny Kim (2-for-4) and shortstop Isaac Luevano (2-for-4). 

In the ninth, Luis Chavarin, Jr. dropped a walk-off squeeze bunt off PCC's ace reliever Benny Olguin for the winning run. Olguin (7-2) had his toughest outing of the year, allowing four runs in four innings and giving up an uncharacteristic seven hits and six walks. 

After banging 20 hits in a win over Rio Hondo on April 9, the team went 2-6 over the final eight games and averaged exactly just eight hits per contest. Cerritos did what the other SCC teams, including co-champions Mt. San Antonio and Long Beach City, did not--cool off the state's best hitting tandem of centerfielder Max Blessinger and shortstop-DH Raider Tello. Blessinger went 2-for-14 v. Falcons pitching while Tello was 2-for-12 (he homered in PCC's 6-0 series-opening win on Tuesday). 

"We're looking forward to the playoffs," said McGee, upbeat despite the recent team batting woes. "It's a long season and we've battled through some injuries. It will be a clean slate for us when we play that first playoff game. We had a great regular season, a 10-game win streak, some big series wins over the two SCC champs, and a number of our players who have had tremendous individual seasons. We play in one of the state's tougher conferences and half of the SCC is going to the postseason."

STATE STATISTICS UPDATE

Tello went hitless in the last two games, something that happend just twice in his first 37 games. Despite the mini drought, Tello still leads the state in overall hits with 74, one behind the PCC school record of 75 set by Gabe Arellano (led state in hits) in 2019. Tello will have a chance to break that record in the upcoming playoffs. 

Tello's 18 doubles (school record) is tied for third in the state, his 51 RBI (a school record) is tied for fifth, and his .413 batting average is 13th. Tello, who started his PCC career with a 21-game hit streak, leads the Lancers in home runs with seven as he is having one of the best offensive seasons ever by a Lancer. 

Blessinger, who like Tello has been super consistent as he only had five games in 40 where he didn't collect at least a hit, is batting .374 and is ninth in the state in runs scored (51, school record). He is 14th in hits with 64. A stellar defensive player, Bellinger has 47 RBI (also broke the previous school high of 44 set by Jeremy Conant in 2017), 14 doubles, four home runs, and nine stolen bases in a banner season for the sophomore transfer. Blessinger also earned CCCSIA State Athlete of the Month for March, an award that covers all sports.

Olguin is now fifth in state ERA at 1.91 and has struck out 65 batters in 66 innings. Trabbie (.243, 21 RBI) has drawn 32 walks and is 10th in the state. Second baseman Andrew Scannell (.248, 29 RBI) is tied for fourth in the state in sacrifice flies with seven. 

OTHER TOP LANCERS  

Luevano is batting .354 (only 68 plate appearances) with an outstanding .522 on-base percentage. Catcher Matt Rice is hitting .344 with a home run and 11 RBI while leftfielder Aryonis Harrison has had a gold glove season in the outfield while batting .311 with 13 RBI and nine steals. 

Pitcher-rightfielder Jakob Guardado has put together a solid freshman season, batting .292 with 17 RBI and on the mound has a 4-3 record (one save) with a 4.07 ERA in 55.1 innings. He has struck out 47 batters.

Ryan Graves started a team-high 14 games, sporting a 3-1 record with a 3.91 ERA in 50.2 innings (just eight walks). Mitchell (2-2 record) has also delivered in a starting role as he has a 3.51 ERA in 51.1 innings (10 walks). Kim, a sophomore transfer, has been another key contributor with a .265 average, a home run and 20 RBI.