Huntington Beach, CA - Golden West baseball (30-12, 15-6 OEC) will be hosting Santa Ana (30-11-1, 12-9 OEC) and Santa Barbara City (29-12, 19-5 WSC) in a three-team double elimination tournament weekend at Fred Hoover Field.
The Rustlers played incredibly well last weekend in their first playoff appearance against the San Diego City Knights. Golden West launched six home runs in two games with three coming off the bat of Zech Samayao. Alex Ramos pitched a complete game shutout in game one as the team cruised to a 6-0 victory. San Diego put up a fight in the second game as the Knights held a four run lead after five frames. In the sixth, the Rustlers tied it and blew it open in the later innings to win, 14-6.
After their two game sweep of San Diego, No. 3 Golden West now has the opportunity to host the No. 6 Santa Ana Dons and the No. 10 Santa Barbara Vaqueros. The defending 3C2A State Champion Santa Ana Dons hosted their first round against the El Camino Warriors. Similar to Golden West, Santa Ana put up six runs in the first game and double digits in the second for the series sweep. Santa Barbara hosted Mt. San Jacinto and won the first two games as well to advance to the second round.
Now, the three squads will meet in a two-team elimination event at Golden West College. The two visiting teams will be in a two-loss elimination situation. On Thursday, May 9th, Santa Ana will play Santa Barbara at Fred Hoover Field in Game 1. The loser of that game will face off against Golden West later that day in Game 2.
Bracket Possibilities:
IF Loser of Game 1 Falls to Rustlers in Game 2
If the loser of game 1 falls to the Rustlers later on Thursday, they will be eliminated from the 3C2A postseason bracket. Golden West will then play the winner of Game 1 in a three-game series on Friday and Saturday.
IF Loser of Game 1 Defeats Rustlers in Game 2
If the loser of game 1 wins their game against the Rustlers in game 2 on Thursday, then it will become a two-loss elimination bracket for all three teams. Each team will face each other until two squads have been eliminated with two losses.
The three day event will begin with Game 1 being Santa Ana Dons vs Santa Barbara on Thursday, May 9th at 11am.
UP NEXT: The Rustlers will play the loser of Game 1 on Thursday, May 9th at 3pm.
