Despite Loss of Lopez, Harbor Battles Back to Advance : Community colleges: Seahawk catcher is lost for the season after injuring a knee on Friday. Harbor sweeps Saturday doubleheader and will play Cuesta.

Don’t blame Harbor College baseball Coach Tony Bloomfield if he was a little restless while trying to sleep Friday night.

During a 12-6 loss to Fullerton in the first game of a best-of-three series in the Southern California Regional playoffs on Friday, another problem occurred for Bloomfield and the Seahawks.

Rene Lopez, Harbor’s sophomore starting catcher who leads the team in batting with a .409 average, injured his left knee in the seventh inning and is out for the season.

Any hopes of remaining in the playoffs looked bleak for the Southern California Athletic Conference champions, but on Saturday the third-seeded Seahawks bounced back.

Facing elimination, second baseman David Rosato knocked in four runs to lead Harbor to a 14-5 victory in the first game and the Seahawks scored six runs in the fifth inning of the second game and held off Fullerton, 6-5.

The Seahawks advanced to a regional final at Cerritos on Friday through Sunday and will play Cuesta, which defeated Citrus.

“I sure had a tough time sleeping (Friday) night,” said Bloomfield, whose team improved to 36-10. “I really feel bad for Rene. Not only is he out of the playoffs, but he lost his chance to play on the Olympic team and to maybe be a top-five draft pick (in the June amateur draft).”

Bloomfield said Lopez tore the ligaments in his left knee while trying to block the plate.

“I don’t know how serious the injury is,” Bloomfield said. “I definitely know he won’t be back and won’t be able to try out for the Olympic team. As soon as the swelling goes down he’ll undergo (further tests).”

Meanwhile, the Seahawks kept their season alive by hammering Fullerton (20-19-1) starter Tim Carman (4-5) in the opener Saturday for nine runs.

Harbor starter Dennis Miller earned the victory to improve to 7-0. First baseman Tristan Paul had three hits and scored three times and six other Seahawks contributed with two hits each.

“The kids were a little down because of the Rene Lopez situation,” Bloomfield said. “It’s tough to lose the conference (most valuable player) and come back and be ready to play, but the kids played with a lot of heart.”

In the second game, the Seahawks battled back from a 2-0 deficit in the fifth to chase Hornet starter George Velasquez.

Run-scoring singles by Miller and Edward Lovato, a run-scoring double by Paul, a two-run single by Dwon Knighton and a sacrifice fly by Mark Lewis gave Harbor a 6-2 lead.

“I told the kids to just keep swinging away,” Bloomfield said. “I wanted the kids to be swinging the bat and to be aggressive. Hitting is contagious and we just got on a roll.”

The 14th-seeded Hornets looked to be in control at the start of the second game when Matt Wilson scored on a Sal Mancuso single in the first inning. In the second, Fullerton’s Mickey Fortie doubled to right-center, scoring Jason Diplock, for a 2-0 lead.

But with a 6-2 lead in the eighth, Harbor starter Martin Meza (6-1) hit Fred Ashcraft with a pitch to start the inning, and Diplock followed with a two-run homer to left to trim the lead to 6-4.

Then Nick Sciacca singled and Tony Moreno, pinch-running for Sciacca, eventually scored on Rosato’s error, and Harbor’s lead was 6-5.

But reliever Brian Wise, who came in with one out, took control and got out of the jam and pitched a perfect ninth inning for the save.

Harbor’s Steve Sell, playing for the injured Lopez, went four for seven and scored four runs in the two games.