Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Pomona Battle for First : Baseball: Toros and Broncos, tied for first in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., play three-game series starting today.

George Wing has established a lofty goal for the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team’s three-game series against 11th-ranked Cal Poly Pomona, which begins this afternoon at 3 in Carson.

Wing, coach of the fifth-ranked Toros, told the team this week that he wanted to win two of the three games against the Broncos, who are tied with Dominguez Hills for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. at 11-7.

The series moves to Scolinos Field in Pomona on Saturday, where the teams will play a doubleheader starting at noon.

The team that wins at least two games in the series will have an edge down the stretch. The two teams lead UC Riverside and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo by a game and a half and Cal State Los Angeles by three games. Only nine games remain after this series for both Pomona and Dominguez Hills, but the other three teams each have more than nine games remaining, the result of rainouts.

Pomona and Dominguez Hills have struggled on the road. The Broncos are 15-5 at home, but only 5-16 on the road.

Dominguez Hills has won four consecutive road games, but started the season by losing six of seven on the road.

“We really have to go get them there,” Wing said of Saturday’s doubleheader at Pomona. “We need to win Friday here and then split there. They are very tough at home. However, we are very tough at home.”

Dominguez Hills, 14-3 in games played in Carson, expects to have an advantage this afternoon when ace Mark Tranberg takes the mound. Tranberg (9-1) leads the league with a 1.75 earned-run average. He ranks first in the nation in number of victories and is 16th in ERA.

In his last outing, a 12-3 victory against Chapman College April 12, he struck out 11 to improve his conference-leading total to 79. Pomona is expected to counter with either Wayne Koklys (4-6) or Erick Gomez (3-5).

Left-hander Vince Aguilar (3-2) and right-hander Armando Plascencia (4-3) are expected to pitch Saturday for Dominguez Hills. Aguilar pitched a perfect game against Chapman College on Saturday, but Plascencia has lost his last two CCAA starts.

Two weeks ago, Plascencia was the losing pitcher in a 13-3 loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. But he was hurt by two errors that led to six unearned runs in six and two-third innings of work.

Last week he pitched a two-hitter, but two wild pitches led to Chapman’s 4-1 victory.

The Toros have one of the best pitching staffs in the nation. They rank 10th overall with a staff ERA of 3.04.

Wing gave the Toro starters the week off. He used bullpen pitchers in two nonconference victories earlier this week. On Tuesday the Toros defeated The Masters College, 3-2. Dominguez Hills defeated UC San Diego, 2-0, Wednesday.

Dominguez Hills has won 10 of 12 games, including two victories in three games against Chapman last week. Pomona won two of three games against visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo last week.

Wing doesn’t want say that it is crunch time for the Toros, but he did say: “This will be a pressure packed series. I think they all will be from here on out.”

This is the first time since 1987 that Dominguez Hills has been in contention for the conference title this late in the season. Four years ago, the Toros won the CCAA title and advanced to the Division II College World Series. Since then, Dominguez Hills has not had a winning record.

Dominguez Hills did not figure to challenge for the title, although most CCAA coaches felt the Toros would be improved. Wing, who is in his third season, is not surprised with the team’s improved play.

“We plan to stay (in first place)” he said. “It doesn’t surprise me with this club. They have really come together. There’s an air about this team. It’s kind of neat. They have that moxie it takes. . . . a winning attitude.”

But if Pomona wins the series, Wing is concerned with how the Toros will handle it.

“We will be tested, in a sense, in this series,” he said. “Do we have the maturity to handle pressure? I’m not sure how we will respond if we get bumped out of first place.”