Cal Lutheran University will memorialize Hall of Fame manager Sparky Anderson Tuesday night at the Lundring Center on the school's Thousand Oaks campus.

The former Thousand Oaks resident, who became the first manager to win a World Series with both a National League and American League team by skippering the Cincinnati Reds (1975, 1976) and Detroit Tigers (1984) to glory, died locally in Nov. 2010.

Hosted by CLU president Chris Kimball, the event will be headlined by Alan Trammell, the World Series MVP from Anderson's 1984 Detroit team, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia

The event will include a reception with ballpark cuisine and a question-and-answer period, will begin at 6:30 p.m.

A limited number of seats are still available. Tickets are $40 and will benefit Anderson's charities of choice, CATCH and the CLU baseball program. Call 805-493-3100 or email nreynard@callutheran.edu for more information.

The spring season arrived last week with the first softball games of the year. Baseball arrives today as the defending WSC champion Oxnard College baseball team visits East Los Angeles, Ventura travels to Porterville and Moorpark is at Bakersfield.

Moorpark College pitcher Landon Hunt has signed a letter of intent to play for Long Beach State.

The sophomore from Moorpark High provided three of the Raiders' nine wins last spring, striking out 61 in 64 2/3 innings. Hunt also led Moorpark in batting average, collecting 17 hits in just 47 at bats.

The success of the Oxnard College baseball team hasn't stopped with a championship season on the diamond.

At least 10 Condors have signed to play for four-year schools next year.

"That's a large group, the most we've ever had," said Oxnard head coach Jon Larson. "We had a good group."

At least three players from the Western State Conference title-winning team will be playing Division I baseball next year. Third baseman Bryan Willson (Camarillo High), the WSC North Player of the Year, has signed with Central Arkansas University. Center fielder Brad Greve (Newbury Park) has signed with Long Island University. Catcher Zack McDonell (Pacifica) has signed with Hawaii.

That number would climb to four if pitcher Justin Bricker (Camarillo) can successfully walk onto the team at Stanford. The engineering student with a 4.0 GPA has already beaten long odds by successfully transferring to the prestigious Palo Alto school.

"It's pretty exciting for us," said assistant coach Roger Frash.

Pitchers Chris Defratus (Rio Mesa), Santos Reyes (Channel Islands) and Joey Juarez (Hueneme) will give Division II Colorado State-Pueblo a trio of Oxnard-native arms.

All-State picks Jonathan Erb (Camarillo) and J.C. Aguayo (Hueneme) highlight the Condors moving on to NAIA schools. First baseman Erb will swing it for Azusa Pacific. Outfielders Aguayo and Juan Reveles (Oxnard) are headed to Northwestern Oklahoma. First baseman Scott McNally will play for Friends University (Kan.)

"That's what it's all about," said Larson. "That's the most important thing."

As if the weekend couldn't get any worse for the Oxnard College baseball team, No. 16 Cuesta, trailing No. 2 San Diego City 10-5 in the eighth inning, came back to beat No. 2 San Diego City 12-11 and 20-7.

If the Condors had been able to beat Palomar this weekend, they would have hosted one of the two four-team Super Regionals for a state Final Four berth next weekend.

Instead the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds were all eliminated

WSC North partners No. 16 Cuesta and No. 13 Hancock both advanced, eliminating No. 2 San Diego City and No. 4 Chaffey.

The No. 3-seeded Oxnard College baseball team (26-11) will attempt to respond to Friday's 17-5 loss in Game 2 of its Southern California regional first-round playoff series with No. 14 Palomar (23-13).

You can follow the action live on @VCSCollege's Twitter feed.

You can also listen live to Eric Evelhoch's radio broadcast at HomefieldSports.com.

OXNARD LINEUP
CF Brad Greve
2B Jake Mahan
P J.C. Aguayo
3B Bryan Willson
1B Jonathan Erb
LF Harper White
C Zack McDonell
SS Blake Adame
RF Eric Weiss

PALOMAR LINEUP
CF Jeremy Cline
2B Terrence Buchanon
DH Alfonso Casillas
LF Victor Martinez
1B Jose Rodriguez
RF Austin Muerhing
C BK Santy
3B Zach Gage
SS Ty Afinir

Community College baseball playoffs
Palomar 17, Oxnard 5: OC baseball beaten soundly by Palomar by Joe Curley.

Premier Development League soccer
Ventura County Fusion preview: Fusion to celebrate its 2009 PDL title at home opener by Joe Curley.

Round 1 Playoff Games, May 7-8
Best-of-3 Series
No. 1 Santa Ana 5, No. 18 Compton 4
No. 2 San Diego City 5, No. 16 Cuesta 4
No. 14 Palomar 17, No. 3 Oxnard 5
No. 13 Hancock 9, No. 4 Chaffey 8
No. 5 El Camino 7, No. 12 LA Pierce 2
No. 11 Bakersfield 9, No. 6 Golden West 8
No. 10 Desert 8, No. 7 Cypress 7
No. 9 Rio Hondo 15, No. 8 LA Valley 5

Round 2 Playoffs (Super Regional Tournaments) May 14-16
Round 3 Playoffs (State Tournament) May 21-23 at Fresno City College

Alfonso Casillas was 4 for 5 with two home runs and Jeremy Cline and Ty Afenir combined for eight hits and seven runs scored as No. 13 Palomar scored six unearned runs in the top of the first inning along the way to a 17-5 win over No. 3 Oxnard in the first game of the Best-of-3 Southern California regional first-round playoff series.

Palomar scored the first nine runs against an Oxnard team who had suffered nine of its 10 losses by one or two runs.

Palomar piled up 20 hits, putting up crooked numbers in four of the first five innings against Oxnard starter Justin Bricker (7-2), who had been undefeated at home.

Oxnard (26-11) must sweep a doubleheader today from Palomar (23-13) to survive and advance to next weekend's Super Regionals. Game 2 begins at 11 a.m.

Oxnard has J.C. Aguayo and Bryan Willson, who are a combined 14-5, available to pitch today.

Palomar loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first inning, but Bricker looked like he was out of the inning by striking out Anthony Meza and inducing a grounder to shortsop from Jose Rodriguez.

But an infield error opened the flood gates, as Austin Muehring hit a bases-clearing triple off the centerfield fence and Afenir followed with an RBI single.

It was the second-biggest inning of the season allowed by Oxnard, who were facing its biggest deficit of the year.

Casillas' solo shot to center in the second and RBI singles by Terrence Buchanon and Casillas in the third made it 9-0 Comets.

Oxnard clawed within 9-3 in the bottom of the third on Aguayo's RBI single, Willson's RBI double and Harper White's RBI walk. But a bigger inning was halted by Buchanon, the second baseman, whose leaping stab of Zack McDonell's line drive produced an inning-ending double play.

McDonell had also seen his potential two-RBI double robbed by a diving play by left fielder Victor Martinez in the previous inning.

Palomar ended the drama with a four-run fifth inning, featuring Casillas' two-run opposide-field shot beyond right field, which made it 13-3.

Community College baseball
Palomar 17, Oxnard 5
Southern California regional playoffs, first round
Game 1
PALOMAR 612 040 13 -- 17 19 1
OXNARD 003 002 00 -- 5 9 4
Wilkins, Meza (9) and Santy. Bricker, DeFratus (7) and McDonell. 2B -- Palomar: Cline 2, Santy, Casillas, Martinez; Oxnard: Willson, McNally. 3B -- Palomar: Muehring; Oxnard: White. HR -- Palomar: Casillas 2,
Records: Oxnard 26-11, Palomar 24-13.

We'll have live coverage of the first game of the Best-of-3 Southern California regional first-round playoff series between No. 14 Palomar (22-13) and No. 3 Oxnard (26-10) on our Twitter page with the first pitch at 2 p.m.

Interesting scores from the opening of Southern California regional baseball playoffs. If Cuesta could eliminate San Diego this weekend, No. 3 Oxnard, with a series win over Palomar this weekend, would be in line to host a Super Regional.

Southern California regional playoffs
Play-in round
No. 16 Cuesta 5, No. 17 Southwestern 4
No. 18 Compton 13, No. 15 Orange Coast 6
Schedule
No. 16 Cuesta advances to play No. 2 San Diego City
No. 18 Compton advances to play No. 1 Santa Ana

The Oxnard College baseball team was seeded No. 3 in the Southern California regional playoffs Sunday at the coaches' meeting at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita.

The Condors (26-10) will host No. 14 Palomar College (22-13) in a Best-of-3 first-round series Friday and Saturday.

Palomar fell 6-5 to Ventura, which split four games with Oxnard in WSC North play, Feb. 26.

First pitch for Game 1 is 2 p.m.

Behind the rock-solid pitching rotation of J.C. Aguayo (7-2, 2.97 ERA), Justin Bricker (7-1, 3.84) and Bryan Willson (7-3, 2.57) and a balanced lineup led by Jonathan Erb (.414, 15 doubles, six home runs, 47 RBI) and Jake Mahan (.363, 12 extra base hits, 40 runs scored), Oxnard swept second-place Hancock to win its first WSC North title since 2005 by three games last week.

The Condors were ranked No. 4 in Southern California and No. 9 in the Western region in last week's polls, before rising to No. 3 in the final RPI Index Saturday.

Oxnard manager Jon Larson was hopeful of the No. 2 seed, since the top two seeds face the winners of Wednesday's play-in games, where winners can burn through their pitching staffs in a single must-win game. Plus, the top two seeds are in line to host the two Super Regionals, May 15-16.

"I was hoping to get the No. 2 seed because that's a huge advantage," said Larson.

No. 1 Santa Ana (28-8) and No. 2 San Diego City (26-7) are the top seeds.

Oxnard beat Santa Ana, 8-0, on April 6, becoming just the second team to shut out the three-time state champion in 162 games since Feb. 6, 2007.

2010 California Community College Baseball
Southern California May 2
Sd. Teams Conf. S.Rec,C.Rec.
1 Santa Ana Orange Empire 28-8, 18-3
2 San Diego Pacific Coast 26-7, 19-6
3 Oxnard West. St. North 26-10, 16-4
4 Chaffey Foothill 26-10, 23-1
5 El Camino South Coast 27-9, 16-5
6 Golden West Orange Empire 23-12, 14-7
7 Cypress Orange Empire 22-14, 13-8
8 LA Valley West. St.South 15-19-1, 14-7
9 Rio Hondo Foothill 26-10, 17-7
10 Desert Foothill 24-11, 16-8
11 Bakersfield West St. South 24-12, 13-8
12 LA Pierce West. St. South 25-11, 13-8
13 Hancock West. St. North 21-14, 13-7
14 Palomar Pacific Coast 22-13, 17-8
15 Orange Coast Orange Empire 19-16, 11-10
16 Cuesta West. St. North 19-17, 10-10
17 Southwestern Pacific Coast 22-14, 15-10
18 Compton South Coast 21-15, 15-6

Schedule
Play-In (Single Elimination) Games, May 4
#18 Compton at #15 Orange Coast
#17 Cosumnes River at #15 San Jose

Round 1 Playoff Games, May 7-8
Best-of-3 Series
#Lowest Seed Remaining at #1 Santa Ana
#Next-Lowest Seed at #2 San Diego
#14 Palomar at #3 Oxnard
#13 Hancock at #4 Chaffey
#12 LA Pierce at #5 El Camino
#11 Bakersfield at #6 Golden West
#10 Desert at #7 Cypress
#9 Rio Hondo at #8 LA Valley

Round 2 Playoffs (Super Regional Tournaments) May 14-16
Round 3 Playoffs (State Tournament) May 21-23 at Fresno City College

The games are getting more and more important in the WSC North baseball race.

Oxnard College (23-10, 13-4) must win at county rival Ventura College (15-17, 7-10) today at 2:30 p.m. to ensure the Condors are in first place entering its season-ending, home-and-home series with co-leaders Hancock Thursday and Friday.

It looks like the Pirates must win to keep their postseason hopes alive.

"I think what it's going to take for us is we have to win out and we have to hope that Cuesta loses at least one game," said Ventura skipper Don Adams Monday. "That'll put us in fourth by ourselves.

"It's slim, but at least there's a chance."

According to Adams, Ventura, tied for fourth with Cuesta at 7-10, needs to finish fourth outright, since it will lose the tiebreaker with the Cougars should Hancock win the title.

The first tiebreaker is head-to-head record against the league champion. Ventura has taken two of three from Oxnard, but went 0-4 against Hancock. Obviously, to win out, Ventura would have to hand Oxnard a loss today.

That also means that, in the event of a tie atop the standings, Oxnard has tiebreaker over Hancock by virtue of its 4-0 sweep of third-place Santa Barbara City.

"It's all kind of crazy," said Adams. "We're just worried about (today) and (Moorpark, who Ventura faces Thursday and Friday) is playing really well.

"It's a big week, for us, obviously. We know it's slim chances, but we're happy to be in that hunt after we started 1-6 (in the WSC North)."

Oxnard will give the ball to sophomore leader J.C. Aguayo (5-2, 2.87 ERA). He will be opposed by Ventura's fire-balling lefty Eric Hong, who may be 2-2 with a 5.04 ERA, but has struck out more than a batter per inning (29 in 25.0).

The Hancock College baseball team hasn't lost in seven games since a 7-6 loss at Oxnard April 6. The Bulldogs surge hasn't just pulled them even with Oxnard at 13-4 in the WSC North with three games to play, it has allowed the WSC North to jump past the Orange Empire as Southern California's top baseball conference in RPI, a key component in the postseason seeding process.

Oxnard and Hancock are ranked No. 4 and No. 6 in Southern California RPI. Both seem to be in position to host a first-round Southern California regional playoff series.

The Top 10 is Santa Ana (.602), Desert (.595), Cypress (.593), Oxnard (.588), San Diego (.576), Hancock (.575), Bakersfield (.570), Citrus (.570), Chaffey (.567) and El Camino (.566).

The question is whether the fourth place team in the WSC North, either Ventura or Cuesta, will earn a postseason berth.

Ventura has reached the playoffs in three of the past four seasons.

The Oxnard College baseball team (23-10) is ranked No. 11 in the April 23 Western regional poll, conducted by the American Baseball Coaches' Association.

ABCA - Junior College Pacific Associations Division
April 23 Poll
RANK SCHOOL REGION Last Week
1 Santa Ana (23-8, 13-3) SoCal 1
2 Columbia Basin (19-5, 8-0) NW 2
3 Canada (26-3, 18-1) NorCal 3
4 San Diego City (22-7, 15-6) SoCal 4
5 Chabot (24-6, 16-3) NorCal 5
6 Lower Columbia (19-3, 5-2) NW 6
7 Cypress (20-11, 11-5) SoCal 7
8 San Mateo (23-6-1, 15-4) NorCal 12T
9 El Camino (23-8, 12-4) SoCal 9
10 Bellevue (19-9, 7-1) NW 10
11 Oxnard (21-9, 11-3) SoCal 11
12 Sacramento City (19-12, 13-3) NorCal 8
13 Chaffey (20-10, 17-1) SoCal 14
14 Fresno City (21-8, 15-3) NorCal 12T
15 Skagit Valley (15-4, 3-1) NW 15
16 Hancock (19-11, 11-4) SoCal 21T
17 Feather River (28-4, 20-1) NorCal 17
18 Golden West (18-11, 9-6) SoCal 21T
19 Chemeketa (15-4, 5-3) NW 19
20 Ohlone (22-8, 14-5) NorCal 25
21 Desert (21-8, 13-5) SoCal NR
22 Merced (20-9, 14-4) NorCal 20
23 Bakersfield (21-10, 10-6) SoCal NR
24 Mt. Hood (12-10, 5-3) NW 24
25 Cosumnes River (18-11-1, 9-7) NorCal 23

Entering the final, privotal week of the regular season, the Oxnard College baseball team (23-10) is up to No. 5 in the Southern California coaches' poll.

The Condors are the only other team besides top-ranked Santa Ana to earn a No. 1 vote. Of course, Oxnard beat Santa Ana, 8-0, on April 6.

Other WSC North teams include Hancock (21-11) at No. 7 and Santa Barbara City at No. 15. Cuesta also received votes.

Southern California Poll 7: April 22
Rnk. Teams *Pts. (1st.) L.Wk.Conf. S.Rec,C.Rec.
1 Santa Ana 239 (11) 1 Orange Empire (23-8, 189-3)
2 San Diego 216 2 Pacific Coast (22-7, 15-6)
3 Cypress 209 3 Orange Empire (20-11, 11-5)
4 El Camino 200 4 South Coast (23-8, 12-4)
5 Oxnard 197 (1) 5 West. St. North (21-9, 11-3)
6 Chaffey 153 6 Foothill (20-10, 17-1)
7 Hancock 146 9 West. St. North (19-11, 11-4)
9 Desert 119 11 Foothill (21-8, 13-5)
11 Palomar 110 13 Pacific Coast (18-13, 13-8)
12 Rio Hondo 95 15 Foothill (22-8, 13-5)
13 Canyons 95 8 West. St. South (16-13, 10-6)
14 Orange Coast 79 16 Orange Empire (16-14, 8-8)
15 Santa Barbara 77 12 West. St. North (18-13, 8-7)
16 LA Pierce 72 7 West. St. South (20-11, 8-8)
17 LA Valley 57 N/R West. St.South (12-17-1, 11-5)
18 Southwestern 51 17 Pacific Coast (18-14, 11-10)
19 Citrus 45 14 West. St. South (19-13, 9-8)
20 Mt. San Antonio 25 18 South Coast (16-15, 10-7)
Others: Cuesta (13); Mt. San Jacinto (9); Compton (9); San Diego Mesa (5); San Bernardino (4); Riverside (3); Long Beach (3).
South Compiled by Kevin Hazlett, San Diego Mesa College
Note: 12 of 45 Southern California Coaches participating.
*Points based on the number of ballots in the poll.

As first-place Oxnard lost at home against Ventura, 6-4, second-place Hancock was busy beating Santa Barbara City, 7-6.

So the teams are in a flat-footed tie with three games to play.

Oxnard plays at Ventura Tuesday before finishing with a home-and-away series with Hancock Thursday and Friday.

That means that, no matter what happens, the title will be decided head to head this week.

Bryan Willson hit his fifth home run of the season and Justin Bricker pitched his fourth complete game of the season as the Oxnard College baseball team maintained their one-game lead in the WSC North with a 10-5 win over visiting Moorpark Friday afternoon.

The game was a makeup of a Tuesday rainout. Oxnard (23-9, 13-3 WSC North) opens a two-game series with Ventura today.

The Oxnard College baseball team, hanging on to its WSC North lead over Hancock by a half game, hosts Moorpark today at 2:30 p.m. in a makeup of Tuesday's rain washout.

Ricky Lipman lined the game-winning, two-RBI single as the Pirates scored twice in the seventh and three times in the eighth to come from behind and beat visting Cuesta, 9-8, Tuesday afternoon.

AJ Gallardo (3-1) picked up the win in relief, striking out three in three innings. Dewey Gratton went 3 for 3 with two runs and an RBI.

Ventura (13-14) and Cuesta (14-14) now sit tied in fourth place at 5-7 in the WSC North, five games behind first-place Oxnard.