Mesa Wins Conference Championship Without Playing, Thanks to Palomar

San Diego Mesa College didn’t play Wednesday but still clinched the Pacific Coast Conference baseball title as Palomar defeated Southwestern, 5-4, in the completion of a suspended game at Palomar.

Palomar protested the April 2 game against Southwestern because of a no-call on an interference play with a player and a coach. The protest was upheld and the game was resumed with Southwestern holding a 3-0 lead. A win would have given Southwestern the PCC title.

Mesa, which won the conference and advanced to the state tournament last season, will play at San Bernardino Valley College Saturday in the first game in one of four best-of-three Southern California Regionals. The winner of each series advances to the state tournament next weekend at San Jose.

Despite the loss, Southwestern qualified for the regional playoffs and will play at Cerritos, the top-ranked team in the state.

Each series has a single game Saturday and two Sunday if needed.

Oxnard is at Orange Coast and College of the Canyons is at Los Angeles Harbor in the other regionals.