Orange County College Baseball : Buckels Comes in Early, Stays Late to Ensure a 5-4 Victory for Fullerton

Gary Buckels had to start pitching a lot sooner than he expected, but he turned in 7 strong innings of relief Tuesday as Cal State Fullerton edged Loyola Marymount, 5-4, at Loyola.

Buckels relieved starter Mark Beck, who had pulled a back muscle in warmups and could not continue after the first inning. Despite the injury, Beck didn’t allow a hit, struck out two and walked one. Buckels took over and earned his second victory of the year before being relieved for the final out.

Fullerton’s Ken Garcia tied the score, 4-4, in the sixth inning on a fielder’s choice. Greg Mannion put Fullerton ahead for good in the seventh when he was driven in by Tony Trevino.

Earlier, Mark Baca, who went 2 for 5, scored twice for the Titans and Mark Razook hit a home run in the fourth.

Scott Neill (2-3) took the loss for Loyola.

In nonconference games:

UC Irvine 9, University of San Diego 6--Pinch-hitter Mike Fay hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to led the Anteaters (15-14-1) to the nonconference victory at San Diego.

The home run was Fay’s first of the season. It came with no one out in the inning and UCI trailing, 6-4. Two walks and a single by Doug Kline loaded the bases before Fay, a junior from Manhattan Beach, hit the first pitch from Jim Westlund.

UCI third baseman Mike Sugar was 3 for 5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Sugar has 43 hits this season to lead UCI. Irvine has won nine of its last 12 games.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.:

Chapman 8, UC Riverside 5--Mike Cruz went 4 for 4 and Darren Nelson hit a home run for the fifth consecutive game to lead the Panthers (1-3, 12-16) at Riverside. Cruz, a senior second baseman from Oxnard, doubled in the second inning, hit a homer to lead off the fifth, doubled in the sixth and singled in the eighth.

Nelson, a senior outfielder from Orange, gave Chapman a 1-0 lead in the first inning with his 11th home run of the season. He also hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to increase his team-leading RBI total to 37.

Riverside, ranked No. 5 in NCAA Division 2, is 2-2 in CCAA and 19-6 overall.