BASEBALL: Pas Poly throwing Rasmussen in semifinals ... Monrovia and Temple City have two huge obstacles standing in the way of a dream championship

Above:Rasmussen gets high-five's after scoring the only run in Friday's 1-0 quarterfinal win over Oxford Academy.

CIF-SS playoffs
Tuesday's Division VI semifinals
No. 1 Pasadena Poly (24-1) at No. 4 Beaumont (23-4)
No. 2 San Jacinto (22-6) at Bishop (17-4)

Notes: If Pasadena Poly advances to Saturday’s CIF-SS Division VI championship at UC Riverside and Rasmussen only has a few innings left to pitch, that’s just fine for Panthers coach Wayne Ellis.
Ellis knows senior Tim Feess (8-1, 1.14 ERA) is more than capable of starting in Saturday’s final, but the huge hurdle is getting there, even with Rasmussen starting in the semifinals against host Beaumont.
Rasmussen (12-0, 0.25 ERA) threw a no-hitter and struck out 13 in Friday’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Oxford Academy.
“Robbie’s probably going to throw,” Ellis said. “He felt fine on Saturday and we want to give ourselves the best chance of reaching the championship, and that’s with Robbie on the mound. If things work out and we can get Tim in there a little sooner, that’s fine. I have faith in both of them.”
Beaumont shutout its first two playoff opponents before hammering Desert Christian, 19-7, in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Beaumont could start Brent Bray (8-3, 2.20), who struckout 18 in the Cougars’ 16-0 opening-round win over Bell-Jeff. They could also start Larry Collins (7-0, 2.04) or Jeff Cashmer (6-1, 1.43), both of whom are having fine seasons.
Rasmussen’s single-season strikeout total reached 198 on Friday, which ranks 10th all-time in the CIF-SS history books. With two more strikeouts, he will become the first pitcher to reach 200 strikeouts in a season since Apple Valley Christian’s Craig VanHulzen struck out 216 in 1990.

Above: Monrovia celebrating last year's Div. V championship.

Tuesday's Div. V semifinals
No. 2 Monrovia (23-5) at Riverside Woodcrest Christian (25-4), 3:15 p.m.
Temple City (20-7) vs. No. 1 Bishop Amat (25-4-1), East LA College, 3:30 p.m.

Monrovia notes: Perhaps the signature moment during Monrovia’s march to the 2006 Div. V championship came in last year’s semifinals against Woodcrest Christian when McKiernan belted a walk-off homer in the eighth inning at home to defeat the Royals, 3-2.
But in 2005 it was this same Royals team that knocked Monrovia out of the playoffs in the second round, 3-2, which sets up a rubber match between the divisional rivals this afternoon.
“We’re expecting another monster game,” said Monrovia co-head coach Dave Moore. “It’s been a great game both times we’ve played them. They’ve got some of their key players back and so do we. It’s gonna be a dogfight, what else can you say.”
McKiernan (11-1), the reigning Div. V and Star-News player of the year, started and pitched 5 2/3 innings in Friday’s 6-1 quarterfinal victory over St. Paul.
With only ten innings allowed each pitcher per week, Moore said he will follow the same game plan he used in last year’s semifinals, which is to not start McKiernan, and let the game dictate when to bring him in.
Moore also isn’t announcing who he’s starting.
“It could be pitching by committee and then bring in Eddie, I don’t know,” Moore said. “I have other guys I have total confidence in, but again, you have to see how the game is going. We’ll go inning by inning and see where we’re at.”
The Royals beat Cantwell Sacred Heart 4-1 in Saturday’s quarterfinals and have won 14-straight.
Royals starter Kyle Matthews (11-2) pitched all seven innings in Saturday’s win, which means they will likely start undefeated Nicolas Maberry (8-0, 1.62 ERA), who started in their 5-4 second-round win over Hesperia.

Above: Will the Rams be celebrating in the semifinals?

Rams notes: When the CIF realignment was announced last year, Bishop Amat stuck out like a sore thumb, dropping all the way from Div. I to become the Div. V’s instant favorites.
The Lancers have been the top-ranked team since the season started, and with nonleague wins over Northview (6-2), Crescenta Valley (4-3) and a clean sweep of the Del Rey League (12-0), they’re still expected to march straight to the championship.
Lancers ace Maverick Olivares (10-0) pitched all seven innings in Friday’s 8-5 victory over Montclair Prep, so the Lancers will likely start another undefeated pitcher in Chris Eusebio (9-0, 1.82 ERA), who pitched a complete game in the Lancers’ 7-2 win over Murrieta Calvary Chapel.
But don’t expect the Rams to be intimidated, not after facing McKiernan three times this season, along with facing Pasadena Poly’s Rob Rasmussen back in March.
The Rams have won five straight, and will start Brian Dearth (7-3, 1.94 ERA), who hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 14 innings. Dearth had 13 strikeouts in the Rams’ 3-1 victory over Gabrielino, and threw two scoreless innings in their 5-3 semifinal victory over Brentwood on Friday.