Community College Baseball : OCC Ends Season With 9-7 Upset

Orange Coast College scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday to end its season with a 9-7 upset of South Coast Conference champion Cerritos (20-3).

The Pirates (14-10, 19-16) scored the first run when Falcon second baseman Mike Benjamin committed a fielding error on a grounder by OCC’s Ron Gibbs with the bases loaded, allowing Darrin Garner to score. Steve Kraiss’ sacrifice fly scored Dave Rolland for the margin of victory.

Winning pitcher Mark Stomp entered the game in the seventh inning in relief of starter Longo Garcia. With a man on base in the ninth, Stomp struck out Tony Trevino and got Ejer Magallanes to hit into a game-ending double play. Gene Roumimper hit a grand slam in the first inning, his 14th homer of the year.

In other South Coast Conference action:

Santa Ana 9, Saddleback 7--The Gauchos scored six runs in the first inning at Saddleback as Santa Ana committed four errors. But Saddleback then hit a scoring drought, which allowed the Dons to overtake them. Vince Shinholster hit his 10th home run of the season in the eighth inning to spur Santa Ana (15-8, 29-11) to the win. The Don’s Doug Maher went 3 for 5 with two RBIs and Mike Lindsen was 2 for 3 with two RBIs.

The Dons’ Mike Schwabe (12-5), the winning pitcher, allowed six hits and two earned runs in 8 innnings. Saddleback’s Steve Nichols maintained a 19-game hitting streak with two singles, and Mark Webster was 3 for 4.

Fullerton 10, Compton 6--The Hornets (10-13, 24-19) took a 7-2 lead after three innings, but the Tartars (1-22, 1-26) managed to bring the tying run to the plate with nobody out in the ninth inning. Fullerton pitcher Pat Simms worked his way out of the jam by striking out the last three batters.