HART PICKS ON TIRED PITCHER; 4 PICKOFF-TRY ERRORS HURT DONS : HART 10, S. BARBARA 3.

Byline: Scott Magoloff Daily News Staff Writer

Regardless of each team's path to Tuesday's Southern Section Division II baseball playoff game, Hart High played like it belonged and Santa Barbara did not.

Yes, Dons ace Matt Vasquez was tired after pitching seven innings in last Friday's first-round game. And the four throwing errors he was charged with on errant pickoff attempts only worsened matters as host Hart disposed of Santa Barbara 10-3 in the second round.

The Indians (25-4) advance to the quarterfinals on Friday and will face the winner of the Royal-Sunny Hills game.

Hart runners were helped along the basepaths with three of Vasquez's errors in the third inning, in which the Indians jumped ahead 4-0. Justin Wiley scorched a one-out double to right-center field and from then on in the inning, Vasquez was at the mercy of Hart's batters and baserunners.

Leadoff batter Ryan Haag followed Wiley's at-bat with a line-drive homer he pulled over the wall in right field. It was the junior's first postseason homer and fourth of the season.

``I was guessing fastball and he threw it right down the middle,'' Haag said. ``I knew we had to get things going.''

Nolan LeMar continued what Wiley started. He singled and advanced to third on two errors before being driven in by Tim Hutting's single. Pitcher Jamie Shields scored Hutting to complete the Indians' assault in the third inning. Hutting went 3 for 4 with three RBI.

Sam Campa's RBI single for Santa Barbara (20-5) made it 4-1 in the fifth, but Hart got the run back in its half of the inning. Then the Indians tacked on five more in the sixth as the fatigue - and two more errors - caught up with Vasquez (12-3). The Dons committed six errors in the game.

``When you look at this one battle, you can feel bad,'' Dons assistant coach Mike Cooney said. ``But when you look at the whole war, you have to feel good about it.''

Santa Barbara's first-round win against Rio Mesa was its first since 1986.

Shields (9-0) picked up the victory with a solid outing, from which coach Bud Murray said the junior should learn. It was his first playoff start and win, and Shields' nerves seemed to get the best of him early and late in the game.

He only allowed four hits and three runs, but two of those hits and two runs came in the seventh. Shields struck out 13 batters, including five straight with three in the sixth and two to start the seventh, but Wiley had to come in to strike out Sam Barret for the final out.

``I was a little nervous at the beginning of the game, then I lost a little control (at the end),'' said Shields, who threw 127 pitches. ``But I let my team score some runs for me.''

And Shields' teammates were happy to oblige. Haag went 3 for 4 with the two-run homer and Wiley was 2 for 3 with one RBI. Shields went 2 for 3 with one RBI.

Christian Limon led Santa Barbara with two of the Dons' four singles. Campa went 1 for 3 with two RBI.