Griffins will face Pickler’s Cypress in SoCal semifinals

By Bill Dickens
Updated: May 16, 2016

2016 GROSSMONT COLLEGE BASEBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

BUENA PARK (5-16-16) — Grossmont College will advance to the CCCAA Southern California Baseball Semifinals when they face the Cypress College Chargers this weekend.

The first game of a best-of-three series will be played at Buena Park’s Cypress on Friday (May 20) at 2 p.m. The second round will be played Saturday (May 21) at the same site at 1 p.m., and if necessary a third game will be played Sunday at noon.

Grossmont (31-10) rolls into town with a record 4-game winning streak after dropping its post-season opener to Cerritos. The Griffins clipped the Falcons twice and then took the next series 2-0 over Bakersfield College.

The next round will feature an emotional challenge as legendary Cypress coach Scott Pickler has announced that this will be his final season. Pickler ranks among the top 10 all-time community college coaches.

But few things have ruffled the Griffins feathers down playoff row. This is a squad with a 2.77 team ERA.

Leaders of the pack are DONAVON McCRYSTAL, who is 10-0 with a 2.16 ERA and hard-throwing ALAN STRONG is 8-2 with a 2.35 ERA. The king of the bullpen is ANDREW SCHULTZ who is 4-3 with a 1.50 ERA and 5 saves.

Offensively Grossmont is led by TANNER PERRY who is batting .395 with 5 home runs, 30 RBI and 21 stolen bases.

NOAH STROHL carries the offensive punch with 8 home runs and 39 RBI to go with a .357 average.

Freshman ROBERT BOSTEDT is batting .377.