Ohlone, South Coast Conference teams move on up in 2nd SIA Baseball Rankings

PASADENA--While there was no change in the top four teams, Ohlone College took a big leap from No. 13 to No. 5 and the South Coast Conference made noise with five teams appearing on the CCCSIA State Top 25 Baseball Poll #2.

Santa Ana College remains in the #1 spot with 17 of 20 first-place votes and Sierra continues to be the North's highest-ranked team at #4. The SCC now holds a 20 percent share of the rankings thanks to #12 Pasadena City, #13 Mt. San Antonio, #19 Long Beach City, #20 Rio Hondo, and #24 El Camino.

However, the Orange Empire Conference is clearly considered the best in the state on the cleats of #1 Santa Ana, #2 Saddleback, #3 Riverside City, #9 Orange Coast, #14 Irvine Valley, #15 Golden West, and #22 Fullerton. The seven teams (only Cypress not ranked) make up 28 percent of the entire poll.

Here are updates on top teams in California Community College baseball, according to sports information professionals. 

1 SANTA ANA (14-1-1)--The Dons nearly went undefeated in the month of February, but Sierra handed them their first loss, 4-3, on Feb. 26. Santa Ana had beaten the Wolverines the day before, 2-1. On Tuesday, SAC rallied from a 13-9 deficit late to win 15-13 over Glendale. SAC's 180 runs leads the state with an average of 11.25 plated per contest. Christian Thompson, who had a 13-game hitting streak snapped v. Sierra is batting .520, second in the state. RANK-SAME AS POLL #1

2 SADDLEBACK (13-3)--The Bobcats went 3-1 in a trip through the PCAC and had to rally from down 8-3 to beat San Diego Mesa, 9-8. On Feb. 17, Cole Koniarsky slugged a grand slam in an 8-run, 8th inning that erased a 7-0 deficit, but Cuesta scored two in the ninth and won it 10-9 in 11 innings. RANK-SAME AS POLL #1

3 RIVERSIDE CITY (11-5)--The Tigers overcame a 3-game losing streak to win three of its last four, including two over LA Mission. On Tuesday, unranked Southwestern, who also beat Saddleback and Fullerton, downed RCC, 5-3. Giancarlo Flores is 4-1 with a 1.14 ERA as Riverside's pitching ace. RANK-SAME AS POLL #1

4 SIERRA (12-4)--Coming off their split of a 2-game series v. Santa Ana, the Wolverines were ambushed by #11 San Joaquin Delta in the Big 8 Conference opener, 22-2. Zach Chamizo leads Sierra hitters with a .404 mark. RANK-SAME AS POLL #1

5 OHLONE (13-2)--The Renegades are on fire with an 11-game win streak, including four straight victories over West LA and a 4-3 triumph over Delta on Feb. 22. Ethan Foley, the current state leader in strikeouts with 46 in just 30 innings, held the Mustangs bats to just two hits over six innings and struck out 11. Foley is 4-1 with a 1.20 ERA. RANK JUMP: 8 SPOTS

6 GLENDALE (10-4)--The Vaqueros had won three straight before Santa Ana tripped them up. On Feb. 25, Hans Seo launched a grand slam in a 9-0 win over Chaffey. RANK JUMP: 8 SPOTS

7 SANTA ROSA JC (10-4)--Since seeing a 5-game win streak snapped by Marin, 4-0, on Feb. 17, the Bear Cubs are 3-3 in their last six games. Connor Charpiot is batting .511, third in the state. RANK JUMP: 2 SPOTS

8 SKYLINE (11-2)--The Trojans had won 10 straight before Lassen upended them, 2-1, in the first-game of a doubleheader on Feb. 17. Skyline rebounded with a 9-4 win over the Cougars in game 2 as Jace Jeremiah slugged two home runs. RANK-SAME AS POLL #1

9 ORANGE COAST (10-6)--The Pirates won 2-of-3 in as close as series of games as you can get against Sacramento CC Feb. 24-26. In the opener, OCC let a 5-0 lead slip away in a 9-8 loss. In game 2, Orange Coast led 12-2 before the Panthers scored 5 in the 9th to take a 13-12 advantage. OCC rebounded on state-RBI leader Cary Arbolida's run-scoring double to tie it, then won in 10 innings, 14-13. In the finale, again Orange Coast lost a lead, 6-5, in the 9th, but scored another extra-innings win in 10 innings on starting pitcher/DH Cameron Mahaffey's RBI single, 7-6. No lead is safe it seems for the Pirates as they let a 7-1 advantage evaporate in a 16-8 loss to Palomar on Tuesday. RANK JUMP: 8 SPOTS

10 PALOMAR (10-4)--The surging Comets have won eight of their last nine games, including scoring 26 runs in victories over Orange Coast and Cypress (10-1). Leading the charge there was Bryson Hashimoto with a home run, a double and 4 RBI in the two wins. RANK JUMP: 13 SPOTS

11 SAN JOAQUIN DELTA (10-4)--The Mustangs have had some epic hitting displays including a 25-3 win over Yuba on Feb. 19 where Kordell Brown bombed two 3-run homers, Cole Santander ripped a 2-run dinger and a 3-run HR, and Nick Strong added a 3-run HR and a RBI double---all by the third inning. Jack Tomlinson slugged a triple and 4 RBI in the 20-run rout over Sierra. Zach Meddings leads the state in batting with a .556 average. RANK FALL: 4 SPOTS

12 PASADENA CITY (10-5)--The Lancers rebounded from a 24-9 loss to Mt. San Antonio to win the next two games, 10-5, and 4-3 to take their conference-opening series. In the series finale, Jakob Guardado struck out the final two batters for the save, bringing back memories of when his father Eddie Guardado was a MLB All-Star closer with the Minnesota Twins. LA Harbor then handed PCC a 7-4 defeat on Tuesday to allow the unranked Seahawks to a 3-1 start to South Coast play. UNRANKED LAST POLL

13 MT. SAN ANTONIO (10-5)--The Mounties are 4-5 since their 6-game win streak to open the year but picked up an encouraging 11-5 win over Long Beach, a team that shocklingly swept El Camino to open South Coast play. Michael Flores leads the state in pitching wins with 5 (2.67 ERA). RANK FALL: 2 SPOTS

14 IRVINE VALLEY (11-5)--The Lasers saw a 9-game win streak go by the wayside in a 3-1 loss to Chaffey on Feb. 24. Irvine Valley's pitching in that win bonanza included three times holding opponents to 1 run and twice to 2 runs. Sammy Murphy hurled a complete-game, 5-hitter in a 4-1 win over Desert on Feb. 19. RANK JUMP: 8 SPOTS

15 GOLDEN WEST (10-5)--The Rustlers lost a 2-of-3 series at Sequoias, won a 2-of-3 at Bakersfield, then exploded for a 20-10 home win over San Diego Mesa on Tuesday. Jonah Sebring leads the team in hitting at .390. RANK FALL: 1 SPOT

16 FRESNO CITY (10-4)--The Rams have won 9 of their last 10, including two wins each over Hartnell, Sacramento, and Reedley (to open Central Valley Conference play). Kristian Gomez, who homered earlier in the game, hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to beat Cabrillo, 7-6, in 11 innings on Tuesday. UNRANKED LAST POLL

17 REEDLEY (11-4)--The Tigers recovered from losing 2-of-3 v. Fresno that began CVC play by routing Taft, 18-1. Appropriately named, Justin Tiger batted 5-for-6 with 5 RBI for Reedley, now 3-4 in its last seven after starting the season 8-0. RANK FALL: 11 SPOTS

18 MODESTO JC (11-3)--The Pirates are 2-3 in their last five and opened Big 8 play with an 8-2 loss to unranked Cosumnes River. Alex Gouviea (.500) has hit safely in all 14 of Modesto's games. RANK FALL: 8 SPOTS 

19 LONG BEACH CITY (8-7)--The Vikings were 5-6 going into their SCC-opening series v. El Camino, then went ahead and swept the Warriors, 5-2, 9-2, and 16-10. What a series for Moises Guzman, who hit a tie-breaking, 2-run HR in the 7th inning of the opener, pitched 7 innings for the win (allowing 1 run) while batting 2-for-3 with a double in game 2, then hitting a double, a HR and knocking in 4 RBI in the finale. Guzman is one of eight players tied for the state HR lead with 5. UNRANKED LAST POLL

20 RIO HONDO (12-4)--Coach Mike Salazar achieved milestone win #500 in his career in beating Compton, 8-5, on Tuesday. Rio Hondo is 3-1 in a 3-way tie at the top of the SCC and won the final 2-of-3 games v. East Los Angeles to open conference play. Rafael Flores had a 13-game hitting streak broken in the ELAC finale, then went 3-for-4 (HR) in the Compton win. RANK FALL: 2 SPOTS 

See story on Mike Salazar's win #500: 

21 SANTA BARBARA CITY (10-4)--The Vaqueros won 6 straight before losing to El Camino, 8-2, on Tuesday. SBCC swept a 3-game set v. Oxnard that began Western State Conference North Division play. Gavin Haimovitz ripped a double, a triple and had 3 RBI in an 8-6 win in the Oxnard finale. UNRANKED LAST POLL

22 FULLERTON (11-6)--The Hornets stopped a 3-game losing streak by defeating Bakersfield, 8-7, on Tuesday. Jacob Sharp is hitting .423 to lead Fullerton batters. RANK FALL: 1 SPOT

23 LASSEN (11-5)--The Cougars lost 2-of-3 games v. Skyline, then fell against Chabot, 6-1. But Lassen pitchers blanked College of the Redwoods, 10-0 and 13-0, in a Feb. 26 doubleheader that began Golden Valley Conference play. Connor Irvine struck out 14 in just six innings in the opener, then Dylan Chalmers recorded 8 Ks in 7 scoreless innings in the nightcap. RANK FALL: 8 SPOTS

24 EL CAMINO (10-6)--The Warriors are trying to reboot after their three losses to Long Beach and utilized Thomas Bainton's 3-hitter over 8 innings for an 8-2 win over Santa Barbara. RANK FALL: 19 SPOTS  

25 FOLSOM LAKE (10-2-1)--The Falcons are undefeated in their last nine games (8-0-1), including two wins each over LA Valley, West Hills Coalinga, and Contra Costa. In the last four games alone, JT Waldon is 10-for-18, 2 HRs, a double, a triple and 12 RBI. Folsom Lake was one of five teams that jumped on to the poll for the first time. UNRANKED LAST POLL

OTHERS: College of the Sequoias (11-7), Feather River (12-5), Sacramento City (9-6, 12th LR), LA Mission (10-6, 20th LR), LA Valley (10-5), Cuesta (8-9), College of San Mateo (7-7, 19th LR), Grossmont (6-6), Merced (10-7, T24th LR), Allan Hancock (9-6, T24th LR), Southwestern (8-6).

Baseball Poll Coordinator/Release by Robert Lewis, CCCSIA Executive Board