The Pasadena City College baseball team grabbed a 4-1 lead v. Cypress, but the Chargers roared back with power for a 7-5 win, then the Lancers were eliminated by host Citrus, 14-5, in a Southern California Regionals Round 1 series on Friday.

PCC finishes its eighth straight trip to the Regionals with a 23-19 overall record. 

The #18 seed Lancers had a great start to the opener v. #10 Cypress as first baseman Joey Ramos roped a 2-RBI double to right center field in the second inning and added a RBI single an inning later. Designated hitter Joaquin Salcedo launched a home run over the high ivy in left center in the fourth for a 4-1 advantage.

It all unraveled for PCC in a 5-run, fifth inning by Cypress. Tyler Smith lined a 2-run double, Gavin Johnson blasted a 2-run HR and the next hitter Ben Keisler made it back-to-back bombs as the Chargers jumped ahead 6-4.

Rightfielder Luke Bauer lined a double and was knocked in by the clutch Ramos on a sacrifice fly to cut it to 6-5 in the eighth. Joshue Sayre held PCC scoreless in the ninth for the Cypress save. Matt Garcia hurled three strong innings of relief, retiring the first eight Chargers he faced as a pitching highlight. 

In the second elimination game, it was all Citrus as the Owls opened up an 11-0 lead after four innings. PCC's last 2026 hurrah came in the fifth as the Lancers scored four runs on just two hits. Shortstop Omar Cisneros batted 2-for-3 with two runs and Gabe Martinez added a pinch-hit double. 

For Citrus, Derek Almeda batted 5-for-6 and slugged two home runs with four RBI while Cam Casado continued his hitting clinic v. PCC that started with two regular season games as the lefty Western State Conference South Division MVP was 4-for-5 with a homer. He was 10-for-11 v. PCC overall.

Salcedo closed his PCC career as the school's all-time RBI leader with 83 (44 this season) while Cisneros led the Lancers in batting on a .341 average. All-South Coast Conference First Team reliever Sergio Robles, including a 1.1 inning stint v. Citrus, pitched scoreless ball in six of his last seven appearances, a stretch of 10.2 innings. 

Salcedo, Cisneros, Robles, Garcia, Isaac Ton, second baseman Logan Parker, Martinez, leftfielder Jacob Escamilla and reliever Alex Saucedo all finished their PCC careers as sophomores.