Harbor Keeps Its Title Hopes Alive : Baseball: After losing in Saturday’s opener, the Seahawks bounce back to beat Cerritos. The will play Cuesta today for a trip to state.

After a humiliating 16-11 loss to Cuesta College, the Harbor baseball bounced back to defeat Cerritos, 10-6, in the Southern California Regional final Saturday at Cerritos.

The third-seeded Seahawks (37-11) will play 11th-seeded Cuesta (24-15) in today’s 11 a.m. final. If Harbor wins the first game, the teams will play a second game to determine the regional champion that will advance to the State Championship next weekend at Riverside.

Cuesta and Harbor opened with victories Friday in the four-team, double-elimination tournament. Cuesta advanced to the winners’ bracket semifinal by defeating Cerritos, 6-5. The Seahawks won their opener against East Los Angeles, 5-4, in 10 innings.

Harbor got off to a bad start against Cuesta in Saturday’s opener. The Seahawks gave up a seven-run lead and went through five pitchers who allowed 12 hits.

Harbor sophomore left-hander Dennis Miller, a Torrance High product, suffered his first loss after giving up six hits and six earned runs in 3 1/3 innings. Miller fell to 8-1.

“That was by far the worst game we’ve played pitching and hitting-wise,” said Harbor Coach Tony Bloomfield, who celebrated his 30 birthday Saturday. “Sixteen runs is definitely the most runs we’ve given up all year. They came battling and battling back and they got us.”

Harbor led, 8-1, in the top of the third inning, but Cuesta tied the score with seven runs in the next two innings.

The Cougars took the lead with five runs off of three hits in the seventh for a 13-8 lead. Harbor scored its last three runs in the eighth on a single by second baseman David Rosato and a two-run double by catcher Steve Sell cut the deficit to 13-11.

But Cuesta added three runs on five hits in the bottom of the eighth to secure the victory. Freshman right-hander Nick Taylor earned the victory to improve to 4-3.

But Harbor regrouped in time for its game against Cerritos.

The Seahawks got four hits and three runs in the first inning off Cerritos’ ace Dan Ricabal (10-2). The sophomore right-hander gave up 10 hits and seven runs.

“Ricabal is their best,” Bloomfield said. “I never thought we’d hit him like that. Our kids played real hard considering we got beat, 16-11, in the first game.

“We don’t have a lot of talent on this team, but when we have good pitching and hitting we can beat anyone.”

Freshman left-hander Brian Wise, an El Segundo High graduate, earned the victory to improve to 5-1. He gave up 10 hits and six runs in 7 2/3 innings.

“I’ve been struggling most of the season,” Wise said. “I tried to look at this as just another game. I was looking more to throw off-speed and it worked.”

Wise got plenty of help from the offense. Rosato, a freshman from South Torrance High, had three hits in five at-bats, drove in three runs and scored three runs. Among his hits was a two-run triple in the top of the eighth inning.

Sophomore third baseman Horacio Casillas was three for five and sophomore center fielder Joey Miller went four for five with two runs batted in. Sophomore shortstop Mark Lewis also had two RBIs.

The Seahawks never trailed. Cerritos (30-10-1) got two runs in the third to cut the deficit to 3-2, but Harbor outscored the Falcons, 7-1, in the next four innings for a 10-3 lead.

Cerritos’ left-fielder Tony Miranda hit a three-run homer to left-center field in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 10-6.

“Sure (the players) were down after that first loss,” Bloomfield said. “And I let them get down for about five minutes, then they have to get back up. They really bounced back.”

Bloomfield says he will start left-hander Marco Martinez against Cuesta today. The freshman from Carson High has a 2-1 record and a 1.77 earned-run average.