No. 18 Baseball Plays 3-Way, SoCal Playoff 1st Round Tourney v. #10 Cypress, host #7 Citrus

With its eighth straight trip to the postseason secured, the state #29-ranked Pasadena City College baseball team earned the #18 seed for the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

The Lancers finished the regular season at 23-17 overall and placed fourth in the South Coast Conference with a 15-9 league record.

PCC now has the task of first facing Cypress, a #10 seed from the Orange Empire Conference, in an 11 a.m. Round 1 series game on Friday, May 1 at #7 tourney host Citrus College. The tourney double-elimination that runs May 1-3 with the winner advancing to the Super Regionals May 7-9.

If PCC wins that game, it would advance to Saturday. A Pasadena loss would force it to face Citrus at 3 p.m. on Friday with the season on the line.

The Lancers lost the 2026 season opener v. the Chargers, 11-3, back on Jan. 23. Frosh centerfielder Xiovany Ochoa was 2-for-3 in his collegiate debut and drove in all three PCC runs. 

State #17 Cypress (26-14) placed fourth in the powerful OEC, a conference that saw seven of its eight teams qualify for the Regionals. The Chargers are paced by All-OEC First Teamers in pitcher Rocky Palacio, outfielder Derek Gonzales, and second baseman Tyler Smith. Palacio led all OEC hurlers with an 8-1 record (3.78 ERA), Gonzales batted .344 with 25 RBI while the power-hitting Smith batted .327 with eight home runs, 14 doubles, two triples and 33 RBI. Another dangerous bat is Justin Tillar, who led the state as a freshman last year in home runs and RBI.

State #11 Citrus (30-10) was the second place team from the Western State South Division. The Owls are a familiar face as PCC played them twice, earning a 5-4 win at Citrus in the second game of the season, then losing 12-8 on Valentine's Day. Lancers freshman rightfielder Luke Bauer had four hits in the victory and first-year third baseman Chris Torres three singles in the loss.

The Owls are led by conference MVP and first baseman Cam Casado, who torched Lancers pitching by batting 6-for-6 with a home run and a double in the two meetings. The lefty-batting Casado is batting .437 with 11 homers and 49 RBI. Another tough out is All-WSC First Team outfielder Jordan Daniels (.380, eight HR, 42 RBI) while Citrus' ace is First Team selection Connor Lueto (5-1, 3.99 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 70 innings). Citrus comes into the postseason on an 11-game winning streak.

SIX LANCERS MAKE ALL-SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE TEAM

PCC placed six players on the 2026 All-South Coast Conference Team led by First Team sophomore relief pitcher Sergio Robles.  

In a team-high 19 appearances, Robles has become a reliable closer with a 3-1 record and five saves in 38.2 innings. His 3.49 ERA leads the squad. 

Making All-SCC Second Team were sophomore shortstop Omar Cisneros, Torres, utility sophomore catcher/designated hitter/first baseman Joaquin Salcedo, second-year reliever Matt Garcia, and freshman starting pitcher Jonathan Bracamonte. 

Cisneros leads the Lancers in batting with a .341 average and has 34 RBI, Torres was second in the SCC in walks (34) and fifth in on-base percentage (.478) while hitting .321 overall with 24 RBI, and Salcedo, who had a monster April, leads PCC in home runs (three), RBI (42), doubles (10) while batting .291. This month, Salcedo drove in 25 runs with six doubles, two dingers and slugged .628 in just 11 games. 

Garcia, a 2-time All-South Coast selection, pitched in 13 games with a 2-1 record and one save. Bracamonte is 4-1 with one save, one complete game, team-highs with 14 starts and 72 innings pitched and a 4.13 ERA.