May 7, 2018 By John Tiech for The 2 min read

CALIFORNIA — The California Trojans secured a playoff berth Monday with a 6-2 win over the visiting Frazier Commodores at Malden Yards.

“Going to the playoffs is something that we’re supposed to do here, but we should’ve secured it earlier,” said California coach Lou Pasquale. “We fell apart a few games, but we’re in the playoffs now and anything can happen.”

The Trojans (9-6, 9-5) brought their bats early when Richie Stimmel hit a deep triple to score Brandon Powell from second base to make it 1-0.

Brody Conner’s 5-3 ground out was enough to bring Stimmel home, giving the Trojans an early 2-0 lead.

California was able to add another run in the bottom of the second inning thanks to an infield error to make it 3-0.

Two more costly errors committed by Frazier (4-10, 3-9) in the bottom of the third inning produced two more runs for California, giving the Trojans a 5-0 lead.

The Commodores managed to get a run in the top of the fifth inning thanks to George Smalich’s RBI single, which made it a 5-1 game.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Frazier pitcher Timmy Sedok walked Brody Conner, scoring Powell to give the Trojans a 6-1 lead.

Finally, in the top of the seventh, Frazier’s Trevor Hayes produced an RBI single into right field, but the Commodores were unable to add anymore.

“This game was a role reversal from the last time we played them. We made the plays last time, and they made the plays today,” said Frazier coach Craig Kordich.

Before the game, California held its annual senior night, honoring seniors Stimmel, Powell, and Brendan Sheehan.

California travels to Brownsville (11-2, 10-2) for an non-section game on Wednesday, while Frazier hosts Fort Cherry (8-4, 8-4) today in section action.