Baseball Ends Season with Round 1 loss at Regionals

Baseball Ends Season with Round 1 loss at Regionals
Posted: May 06, 2019

LAMC's Baseball team finished the regular season in second place in the Western State Conference with a total record of 22-16 with 14-6 being conference games. The Eagles hosted and played the wild card game against Southwestern College on Tuesday, April 30th and won 7-1. With this win, Coach Cascione and his team headed to the opening round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

Orange Coast is the number 1 seed (29-8-1) in Southern California who made the final four in Fresno last season. The Pirates (29-8-1) earned the No. 1 spot in Southern California by winning the Orange Empire Conference title for the third year in a row, capped off with a dramatic three-game sweep over Santa Ana at the end of the regular season.

The OCC Pirates hosted L.A. Mission College in the opening round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs. Game 1 was held on Friday at 2 p.m. at Wendell Pickens Field with the Pirates winning 8-1. Game 2 of this best-of-three series that was held on Saturday at 11 a.m. at OCC had the Pirates winning 10-3. 

For the 16th-seeded Eagles (23-16), they have been playing their best baseball at the right time, riding a six-game winning streak leading into the regionals. 

A five-pack of sophomores anchored the Eagles' offense, led by outfielder Andrew Scheinert with a .354 batting average with 58 hits, 39 runs and 25 RBI, followed by Robert Reeves (.353, 49 hits, 36 runs, 19 RBI), Jose Holguin (.345, 48 hits, 38 runs, 39 RBI), Jonathan Max (.329, 51 hits, 4 HR, 37 RBI) and Gabe Gonzalez (.278, 42 hits, 40 runs, 10 HR, 32 RBI).

Sophomore pitcher Thomas Gutierrez (9-2, one save, two complete games, 2.75 ERA, 91 2/3 innings) led the Mission pitching staff. Gutierrez pitched eight strong innings on Tuesday against Southwestern, allowing one run on six hits with five strikeouts. 

Sophomore Dominic Eberle, 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA, with 56 strikeouts over 49 innings. Out of the bullpen, closer Louis Vargas is 1-2 with five saves and a 5.03 ERA with 20 strikeouts over 19 2/3 innings.

This is the last season Head Coach Joe Cascione coached and the Eagles 2019 season ended on a good note with them making it to the opening round.