Community College Baseball : Cerritos Defeats Santa Ana, 16-13

It started at 2:30 in the bright afternoon sunshine, and 4 hours, 29 runs, 38 hits and 6 errors later, it mercifully came to an end in the evening twilight. Cerritos College beat host Santa Ana Tuesday, 16-13, in a South Coast Conference game that tested the endurance of players and fans alike.

Sometimes, you had to wonder if this was just a couple of slo-pitch softball teams going at it for fun--the fielding and pitching was that bad. About the only thing the Falcons and Dons didn’t have to be embarrassed about was their hitting, which, even by SCC standards, was impressive.

And although Cerritos (11-1 in conference and 23-3 overall) was outhit, 21-17, it made better use of its hits to lengthen its lead over second-place Golden West to three games and over third-place Cypress to three and a half.

Cerritos started the game with five straight hits to take a 3-0 lead after one inning.

The Falcons led, 6-4, going into the bottom of the third when Santa Ana (6-5, 19-8) scored three runs, two of them unearned, to gain a 7-6 lead. The Dons added two more in the fifth and one in the sixth and led, 10-6, going into the seventh inning.

In the seventh, everything went right for Cerritos, and everything went wrong for Santa Ana.

It began when starting pitcher Gary Pifer, who had rebounded nicely from a slow start, retired Ron Ewart for the first out. But after that, the next eight Cerritos batters reached base against Pifer and three successors, Mike Sanders, losing pitcher Mike Schwabe (7-4) and Marty Martinez.

Craig Worthington started the rally with an infield hit and Bob Esquerra and Scott Wilkinson walked to load the bases. Don Sneddon, Santa Ana’s coach, then replaced Pifer with Sanders, and Falcon pinch-hitter Kevin Evert greated the reliever with an RBI single to make it 10-7.

Sneddon then brought in Santa Ana’s ace, Schwabe, and he promptly allowed four straight singles.

On the third hit, with runners at first and second, Schwabe tipped Bill Mosiello’s potential double-play ground ball past shortstop Vince Shinholster into left field, allowing Tony Trevino to score. Ever Magallanes also scored when Santa Ana left fielder Brent Ryhlick picked up the ball and threw wildly past the cutoff man. Mike Benjamin capped the inning by driving in Mosiello with a single for the seventh run of the inning.

Ahead 13-10, Cerritos added three runs in the ninth to make it 16-10. Santa Ana scored three in the ninth, too, before winning pitcher John Agundez (2-1), working in relief of Dave Serrano and Al Osuna, retired Bob Cassidy with two runners on to end the game.

Sneddon could only talk about the seventh inning--and the double-play ball that wasn’t--after the loss.

“We had a complete collapse in that inning,” Sneddon said. “An easy ground ball that was a sure double play became a hit, and we ended up making an error on the play, too.

“This was frustrating. Whenever you get 13 runs and 21 hits, you expect to win.”

Ewart was the offensive star for Cerritos as he went 4 for 6 with three triples and five RBIs. Gary Thomason hit two bases-empty home runs for Santa Ana, Ryhlick went 4 for 5 and Shinholster and Ruben Gonzalez each had three hits.

In other South Coast Conference action:

Saddleback 12, Cypress 6--Gaucho designated hitter Dave Ward was pressed into pitching after Cypress got four runs in two innings off Saddleback starter Chris Fredrick. Ward pitched six innings allowing six hits and three runs to earn the victory. He also contributed an RBI single in the second inning. Cypress’ James Jackle improved his average to .462, going 3 for 4 with 4 RBIs and two home runs. Saddleback (5-7, 11-11) scored six runs in the first inning, three on first baseman Joe Holden’s sixth home run of the year.

Orange Coast 10, Golden West 3--Longo Garcia and Jeff Goettsch combined on a two-hitter to upset the Rustlers at Golden West. Gene Roumimper had an RBI double in the Pirates’ three-run first inning and finished the game 3 for 5 with two doubles and two RBIs. Darren Garner and Rob Gibbs also had three hits each for the Pirates (4-8, 9-14). Shawn Gilbert had both hits for Golden West (8-4, 17-5). Golden West was coming off Saturday’s 3-1 victory over conference-leading Cerritos.