Orange County Community College Baseball : Garcia Masters Control, Pitches Orange Coast to Win

Sophomore right-hander Longo Garcia survived eight walks Saturday afternoon and pitched a complete game as Orange Coast College defeated Fullerton, 8-1, in South Coast Conference baseball action at Costa Mesa.

Garcia (6-1) limited the Hornets to four hits and had five strikeouts as the first-place Pirates (10-0, 21-4) rolled to their 15th consecutive win and 10th in the conference. OCC is three games ahead of Rancho Santiago.

Fullerton’s only run--which was unearned--came in the fourth inning. Anthony Moreno, who was 3 for 4, singled with one out, moved to second on a walk and scored on an error by second baseman Mike Lujin, who was unable to field a ball hit by Morgan Flynn.

Garcia escaped further damage by getting Jon Rice to ground into an inning-ending double play with runners on first and third and one out.

The Pirates turned three double plays behind Garcia, the most spectacular started by right fielder Mike Rassmussen in the eighth. After making a diving catch of a fly ball hit by Jeff Oberdank, Rassmussen made an accurate one-bounce throw to first to double off runner Phil Diplock.

“He (Garcia) walks a lot of hitters,” OCC Coach Mike Mayne said. “That’s the way he pitches. He’s very fine, and is always throwing on the corners. What he does well is come back and throw strikes to the next guy after he walks somebody.”

Joey James, a freshman left fielder from Newport Harbor High School, hit his 12th home run of the season in the third inning with two runners on to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

The home run gave James 57 RBIs. OCC center fielder Ralph Ramirez was 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Orange Coast took the lead in the bottom of the first on a one-out double by first baseman Rex Peters and an RBI single by catcher Paul Ellison off losing pitcher Brian Floyd (2-1).

Floyd gave up single runs in the fifth and sixth and two runs in the seventh before being replaced by Brian Coriell, who pitched the final two innings for Fullerton (5-6, 11-12).

“We were unable to capitalize on the walks and the few mistakes they (OCC) made,” Fullerton Coach Nick Fuscardo said. “To play well we had to play hard and with a lot of emotion, and we did neither. We were very flat.”

In other South Coast Conference action:

Rancho Santiago 10, Compton 2--Brent Reese was 2 for 4 with two RBIs as the Dons (7-3, 17-5) remained three games behind Orange Coast. Wayne Gilles (3-1) pitched the first five innings for the win.

Golden West 11, Mt. San Antonio 7--The Rustlers scored four runs in each of the first two innings, then broke it open with three more in the seventh for the win at Walnut. Keith Kaub had a two-run homer, his 10th of the season, for Golden West. The win was the sixth straight for the Rustlers (6-5, 12-9).

Cerritos 1, Saddleback 0--The defending state champion Falcons (6-5, 16-8) have won two in a row after losing five straight conference games. The Gauchos fell to 5-6 in conference and 13-8 overall.