El Camino, Mt. SAC Share SCC Baseball Title; 4 Teams Make Postseason
It came down to the final day of the 2026 regular season, but state #5-ranked El Camino College was able to tie #19 Mt. San Antonio as Co-South Coast Conference baseball champions, both with 19-5 records.
The Warriors (33-7 overall) nearly had a no-hitter delivered by southpaw Anthony Camarena, who ended with a complete-game, 1-hitter as ECC blanked Pasadena City, 7-0, on April 24. ECC won a SCC crown for the first time since 2023 and seventh in its conference history.
Mt. SAC (23-17) had already clinched a tie for its second straight title after completing SCC play the previous week. The Mounties ran off a 12-game, SCC win streak between Mar. 12-April 14. After Long Beach busted it, they picked up win #19 with a 20-9 thumping of the Vikings on April 19. It is Mt. SAC's ninth conference title in the South Coast, but fifth since 2018.
El Camino beat the Mounties, 2-games-to-1 in their series. ECC performed 3-game series sweeps over LBCC, East Los Angeles, Rio Hondo and Compton. Mt. SAC also had four sweeps over Pasadena, LA Harbor, ELAC and Compton.
FOUR SCC TEAMS MAKE SOCAL PLAYOFFS
El Camino led four squads in qualifying for the Southern California Regional Playoffs as the #3 seed, followed by Mt. SAC at #16, third-place Cerritos at #17, and fourth-place Pasadena at #18.
Three-team, first round tourneys take place Friday-Sunday, May 1-3 including El Camino hosting #14 Fullerton and #22 Southwestern, Mt. SAC at #1 and PCAC champion Palomar with #24 Mt. San Jacinto, Cerritos at #8 and IEAC champion Desert with #9 Saddleback, and PCC at #7 Citrus with #10 Cypress.
Winners advance to the Super Regionals the following week, May 7-9.
Mt. SAC is the defending 3C2A State Champions and this year's championship final four takes place at Great Park in the City of Irvine, May 23-25.
ALL-SCC TEAM SELECTED
Conference coaches met on April 27 at Cerritos College to select the 2026 All-South Coast Conference Team with the big awards going to El Camino sophomore shortstop-relief pitcher Slater Nunez as Most Valuable Player, Mt. San Antonio sophomore lefty Hudson Castillo as Pitcher of the Year, and ECC head coach Grant Palmer and Mt. SAC's John Knott named Co-Coaches of the Year.
The Warriors had a remarkable three starting pitchers on the First Team in Adrian Pineda, Cameron O'Neil and Camarena. Mt. SAC received the most First Team selections with eight followed by both ECC and Cerritos with four each.
Although selections were based on the 24-game conference schedule, in overall statistics Nunez led all SCC players in the 40-game regular season in RBI (46), home runs (tied with several hitting seven), doubles (15) while also leading conference relievers with six saves.
Castillo was a perfect 6-0 in SCC play with a 1.60 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP in 45 innings pitched. In overall numbers, O'Neil won 11 games on the hill and Pineda's 2.00 ERA and 87 strikeouts led the conference.
East LA's Phillip Chaidez was the SCC batting champion, hitting .492 in conference and .479 overall as First Team utility player. He was also 4-2 on the mound with 84 Ks in 65.2 innings pitched.
Other top First Teamers included Cerritos shortstop Tyler Peshke, who batted .388 with five HR and 40 RBI, Long Beach centerfielder Myles Fendrick, a .383 hitter who led the SCC with 26 steals, and Falcons designated hitter Brody Cuellar, who hit .321 with three HR and 45 RBI.
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID