For the first time, September baseball in Long Beach means playoff baseball.
The Long Beach Coast just wrapped up its first-ever regular season in the Pioneer Baseball League as the second-place team in the league standings with a 67-29 overall record. Now, the Coast turns its attention to the playoffs, which open tomorrow at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field with Game 1 of a three-game division series against the Modesto Roadsters.
“Everyone on this team understands my playoff philosophy which is that this is the gravy on top,” said Coast manager Troy Percival. “We’re going to go out there and enjoy ourselves and play hard. Playoff baseball is a different animal and you need to play loose and have fun. We’re playing a team we’ve had a lot of success against but they’re a different team in the playoffs.”
The Coast is 37-14 at home and will host Game 2 on Friday, along with Game 3 on Saturday if needed. With a series win, the Coast would advance to the three-game championship series on Sept. 15, Sept. 18 and Sept. 19. If they advance, the Coast would have home-field advantage in the championship series unless the top-seeded Billings Mustangs also advance.
“When you get the Long Beach fans going and supporting it brings the whole dugout up,” Percival said of the home field advantage. “You don’t have to look for false energy when you’re at home with the fans’ energy all game. It’s definitely a huge advantage and you have to take advantage of it anytime you get it.”
One of the Coast’s biggest challenges will be continuing to find guys to step up after numerous injuries throughout their 96-game regular-season schedule. The Coast lost catcher and standout hitter Thomas McCaffrey to injury, while two of their top pitchers, Brett Wozniak and Gary Grosjean, have also battled injuries that forced them into different roles out of the bullpen.
“We’re just going in and making adjustments as we go,” Percival said. “Thus far, we’re happy with it, and everyone knows that as one guy goes down, the next guy steps up.”
Still, the Coast had the top pitching staff in the league with a league-best 5.31 ERA and will lean on its arms heading into the playoffs. Nathan Hemmerling has anchored the rotation with a 9-0 record and team-high 100 strikeouts across 95.1 innings, while Nick Bautista has posted a 6-2 record and 4.54 ERA across 75.1 innings. Out of the bullpen, Zach Voelker has been one of the Coast’s most reliable arms, recording 22 saves with a 3.35 ERA across 51 innings.
Percival says it’ll be key to build runs early in the game against a Modesto Roadsters team (58-38) that had the second-best pitching staff during the regular season with a combined 5.87 ERA. Omar Serrano leads the group and led the league with 127 strikeouts across 19 starts. Devyn Hernandez and John Jenkins are another pair of workhorse arms in the rotation, while Johan Castillo has been a steady presence out of the bullpen.
The Coast batted in the middle of the pack during the regular season with a combined .310 batting average. Emilio Corona led the squad with 27 home runs while adding 111 RBI, while Cuba Bess led with a team-best 115 RBI. Eddy Pelc reached base in more than half of his plate appearances with a .528 on-base percentage, while Matthew Bardowell and Jacob Jablonski are another pair of big bats in the lineup.
The Coast will open the series at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field on Thursday at 6:35pm.
