Pierce Faces Playoff Exclusion : College baseball: Brahmas, conference co-champions, must win today to be considered for a postseason berth.

To some it might sound like sour grapes, but Pierce College baseball Coach Bob Lofrano believes there is a flaw in the Western State Conference rules that determine divisional winners in case of ties. And his team could pay dearly for it today.

“We’ve been freaking around with our by-laws every year and it’s getting ridiculous,� Lofrano said.

The Brahmas have posted an excellent record (25-15, 17-8 in conference play) and tied Bakersfield for the South Division championship. Still, Pierce might not qualify for the Southern California regionals that start May 13 because of the WSC tiebreaking rules installed this season, the first for divisional play in the conference.

Pierce needs to defeat Moorpark today at 1 p.m. at home to be considered for an at-large berth in the regionals. Moorpark was the North Division’s second-place representative.

The predicament developed when Pierce lost on Thursday to Valley and had to share the South title with Bakersfield. Under the tiebreaking formula, Bakersfield earned an automatic berth into the playoffs and will meet Cuesta--the North Division winner--in a one-game playoff today to determine the WSC’s No. 1 team for seeding purposes in the regional tournament.

The first tiebreaker between Pierce and Bakersfield was head-to-head competition, but they split their four games. The second tiebreaker--records within the division--produced the same result. Each team was 14-6. Next in line was their results against Glendale--the division team with the next-best record--but the Brahmas and Renegades each beat the Vaqueros in three of four games.

The next team in line was Valley, which Bakersfield defeated four times. Pierce had defeated the Monarchs in their three previous games this season before Valley upset the Brahmas, 7-5, Thursday in the conference finale.

So now Pierce must face Moorpark to determine the Nos. 3 and No. 4 seeded teams from the conference. Only the top two teams are guaranteed automatic berths in the regionals and the third-seeded team has a fighting chance of gaining an invitation. The fourth team probably stays home.

“Why didn’t we think of this before?� Lofrano said. “The teams (Pierce and Bakersfield) end up in a co-championship and you have to play for a third-place seed? It’s ludicrous.�