The South Coast Conference champion Long Beach City College baseball team has received the No. 14 seed for the upcoming 2014 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern California Regional Playoffs that get underway this coming week.
The Vikings will travel to take on the No. 3-seeded Santa Ana College Dons in a best-of-three regional playoff series that open on Friday, May 2 at 2 p.m. Game 2 is set for 11 a.m.
Long Beach is 21-15 overall and won six straight games, including eight of its last nine conference games, to capture a share of the SCC title at 15-6 with East Los Angeles College and Cerritos College.
Head coach Casey Crook takes LBCC to the postseason for the seventh time after reaching the playoffs in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2008, and 2009. The Vikings are in search of their first state championship since 2006.
Santa Ana brings a 25-11 overall record into the playoffs and is co-champions of the Orange Empire Conference after tying Orange Coast College with a 14-7 conference mark.
Santa Ana missed the postseason last year, but in 2012 was just one game away from reaching the CCCAA State Championships after advancing to the Super Regionals.
In their lone meeting this season, Long Beach lost 10-6 at Santa Ana on February 8. A four-run, fifth-inning by the Dons ultimately put the game out of reach for the Vikings, who fell to 1-3 overall at the time.
The winner of the regional round will advance to a best-of-three Super Regionals series against the winner of No. 6 Santa Barbara City College and No. 11 San Bernardino Valley College beginning on May 9.
Three playoff-series wins are needed to advance to the CCCAA State Championships on May 23-25 in Fresno.