Here’s who Merced County baseball teams will face in first round of playoffs
The El Capitan High baseball team, fresh off its fifth consecutive Central California Conference championship, was awarded the seventh seed in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 tournament on Saturday.
The Gauchos will play 10th-seeded Sierra of Manteca in a first-round game at home on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
El Capitan went 14-1 to claim the CCC title and is 21-7 overall. The Gauchos won 10 straight games to end the regular season, including five consecutive shutouts.
Sierra finished seventh in the Valley Oak League at 4-14 and is 11-17 overall.
Wednesday’s winner will likely play second-seeded Vista del Lago of Folsom in the quarterfinals.
The first two rounds of the tournament are single games. The semifinals and championship will be best-of-three series. The finals will be played May 20-23.
Other Merced County teams in the postseason
- Atwater, which finished second to El Capitan in the CCC, earned the 11th seed in the Division 2 tournament. The Falcons (22-5-1 overall, 12-3 CCC) will travel to Loomis to play sixth-seeded Del Oro on Wednesday. Del Oro finished third in the Sierra Foothill League.
- Los Banos (10-16 overall, 7-8 CCC), the third-place finisher in the CCC, is seeded 15th in Division 4 and will play second-seeded Central Catholic in the first round. The Raiders won the Valley Oak League title.
- Le Grand, which finished second in the Southern League at 12-2, was awarded the 10th seed in Division 6. The Bulldogs (18-6 overall) will travel to seventh-seeded Angels Camp to face Bret Harte on Wednesday. The Bullfrogs finished third in the Mother Lode League.
- Hilmar (10-12 overall, 4-8 Trans-Valley League) is the 11th seed in Division 6 and will play sixth-seeded Summerville in Tuolumne in the first round.
- Stone Ridge Christian (5-11 overall, 2-11 Southern League) is the 14th seed in Division 7 and will play third-seeded Delta in Clarksburg.
