Chaffey to host RCC in playoffs

The Chaffey baseball team has drawn a first-round playoff date with Riverside Community College.

Pairings for the best-of-three Southern California regionals were unveiled Sunday and the Foothill Conference champion Panthers (30-9) drew the No. 7 seed. Defending state champion Riverside (27-17) is No. 10, finishing fifth in the tough Orange Empire Conference.
Chaffey will host the series opener at 3 p.m. Friday with the second game at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Coach Jeff Harlow wasn’t surprised with that but was miffed that Cerritos (29-14) was one spot ahead of his team because his team beat the Falcons twice.

Swapping places with Cerritos would have meant getting Bakersfield (28-16), a more preferrable draw because it is a second-place team out of a considerably weaker conference.

“They didn’t follow the criteria they should have,” Harlow said. “We played that team and beat them twice. Why play them if it isn’t going to matter? It’s all political.”

Tuesday’s game’s

Single-elimination games

No. 18 Santa Barbara at No. 15 Palomar
No. 17 Rio Hondo at No. 16 Ventura

Friday games

First game, best-of-three

Lowest remaining seed at No. 1 Santa Ana

No. 13 East Los Angeles at No. 4 Irvine Valley

No. 12 El Camino at No. 5 Southwestern

No. 11 Cypress at No. 8 College of the Canyons

No. 10 Riverside at No. 7 Chaffey

No. 11 Bakersfield at No. 6 Cerritos

No. 14 Long Beach City at No. 3 Orange Coast