Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoff pairings unveiled

There’s nothing easy or predictable about the 40-team Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs that begin Tuesday with eight wild-card games.

“The Division 1 games are a juggernaut,” Coach Matt LaCour of No. 3-seeded Studio City Harvard-Westlake said. “Single-elimination playoffs are about a team getting hot at the right time and having a little luck.”

Santa Ana Mater Dei (24-2) ended the regular season as the best team in Southern California and received the No. 1 seeding for the Division 1 playoffs. But everyone associated with the program knows the playoffs are a whole different challenge.

“We’re basically forgetting everything that happened during the season,” said Ryan McMahon, Mater Dei’s standout third baseman. “It’s a brand new season, and hopefully, it’s a five-game season.”

The Monarchs will open the playoffs Thursday against the winner of the wild-card game between host Riverside King and Huntington Beach. Lake Forest El Toro is the No. 2 seed, Harvard-Westlake No. 3 and Anaheim Canyon No. 4.

A year ago, Newbury Park got hot and won the championship behind ace pitcher Luke Eubank. The fact the Division 1 playoffs start on a Thursday will give coaches who survive the opening round an option of coming back the next Tuesday with their No. 1 pitchers.

There are lots of outstanding pitchers in the tournament, and that creates the possibility for surprises. Long Beach Poly isn’t seeded but has Stanford-bound Chris Castellanos ready to go for its road opener against Placentia El Dorado.

Moorpark has Sean Barry (10-1, 0.67 earned-run average) for its home opener against Riverside Arlington. Harvard-Westlake has junior Jack Flaherty (10-0, 0.71 ERA) for its home opener against Westlake or Valencia. Agoura has Henry Baker (6-3, 1.26 ERA) for its home opener against Riverside North or Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

It’s going to be a three-week, single-elimination survival test, with the reward a trip to Dodger Stadium on May 31 for the championship game.

“We want to go on a five-game winning streak,” LaCour said.

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