1ST RD. PLAYOFF PICTURE SET: FULLERTON AT SANTA BARBARA CITY

The 3C2A Southern California Regionals are set and ready to go with No. 14 Fullerton gearing up for a road trip to No. 11 Santa Barbara City College this weekend.

The Hornets ended the season winning two out of three games over Saddleback College last week with an overall record of 20-20. FC finished Orange Empire Conference-play in a fourth-place tie with Golden West and Saddleback, while Cypress took the OEC title, Riverside placed second, and Santa Ana third. Orange Coast finished in fifth and Irvine Valley in sixth place.

The Vaqueros of Santa Barbara City are the Western State North champions sporting an overall record of 25-13 with a conference finish of 17-7. The team batting average is .276, while the team ERA is 4.27. Hitters to watch are Will Matuszak (.344/36 RBI/33 runs), Nicolas Aguirre (.342/13 RBI/15 runs), and Aidan Camberg (.311/33 RBI/40 runs). On the mound, Joseph Talarico leads the team with a 9-2 record with a 1.47 ERA. He also has 73 Ks on the season. Trevor Kester-Johnson is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA, and Max McGrady is 3-1 with a 3.28 ERA.

Fullerton can put up a heavy amount of runs with a batting average of .296. Big hitters to keep an eye on are Trevor Schmidt (.338/45 RBI/37 runs), Dillon Anderson (.307/42 RBI/38 runs), Nate Pone (.377/21 RBI/49 runs), Luke Viola (.355/32 RBI/24 runs), Jake Larson (.333/26 RBI/41 runs), and Hunter Billingsley (.292/19 RBI/19 runs). The team ERA is 6.26. Manny Lopez leads the way with a 5-1 record with a 2.97 ERA. Eddie Garcia is 3-0 with a 4.42 ERA.

Up Next: The No. 14 Hornets travel up to No. 11 Santa Barbara City College for a best-of-three series that will begin this Friday, May 2nd at 2:00 pm. Game two will be on Saturday, May 3rd at noon. Game three (if needed) with be on Saturday, May 3rd at 3:00 pm.

The 3C2A SoCal Bracket

*Photo by Andrew Mendoza