Orange County Community College Baseball : Cerritos Moves Toward Title as Fullerton Falls, 13-8

Cerritos College took a big step toward clinching its second South Coast Conference baseball title in three seasons by defeating Fullerton, 13-8, Tuesday at Fullerton.

With the victory, first-place Cerritos (20-3, 32-4) has a three-game lead over second-place Fullerton (17-6, 23-11-2) with five games remaining.

“It’s not over, but I like our chances now,” said George Horton, Cerritos coach.

Cerritos, which also won the state title in 1985, Horton’s first season, has been the top-ranked team in California all season. Fullerton was picked sixth in conference but upset Cerritos twice this season.

“We’re still in the race, but we really need some help (from other teams),” said Nick Fuscardo, Fullerton coach. “They came over here and wanted to put some space between us and them and they did.”

Cerritos scored two runs in the first inning, four in the second and three in the fourth to take a 9-3 lead. Todd Guggiana hit a three-run home run in the fourth for the Falcons. Bret Barbarie added a two-run homer in the eighth to increase Cerritos’ lead to 11-3.

Fullerton scored five runs in the eighth, three on a pinch-hit home run by Emmitt Cohick, his fourth. Andy Ruscitto hit a two-run home run to increase his school single-season home record to 11.

Tim Lockhart (9-2) pitched 7 innings to earn the victory and Mark Tranberg (6-2) pitched two-plus innings for the loss.

Golden West 10, El Camino 5--The Rustlers scored five runs in the top of the eighth inning, three on Greg Martin’s bases-loaded double, to overcome a 5-4 deficit.

Terry Reichert had an RBI double and Keith Laszlo an RBI single in the eighth for Golden West (10-13, 15-15). The Rustlers’ Chip Damato went 2 for 4 with a two-run home run in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Jim Buccheri added three hits.

In the Orange Empire Conference:

Rancho Santiago 10, Citrus 7--Nick Santa Cruz went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and a game-winning home run in the ninth inning to lead the Dons at Citrus.

Todd Lloyd went 2 for 5 with three RBIs and a home run and Bob Brucato went 1 for 3 with three RBIs and a home run to help the Dons. Dave Tellers (8-2) gave up eight hits and struck out two for Rancho Santiago (12-3, 25-7).

Orange Coast 10, Riverside City 5--Dave Staton went 4 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs, and Mark Rasmussen went 3 for 5 with a home run and two RBIs to lead the Pirates (13-2, 25-6) past the Tigers (6-9, 15-19) at Riverside City. Jim Foley went 7 innings, allowing nine hits and striking out six, to earn the victory.

Cypress 10, Saddleback 1--Freshman Bill Bentley (5-0) gave up five hits and struck out three in 8 innings for the Chargers at Saddleback. Mike Parker went 3 for 5 with four runs scored and an RBI, and Mike Faddoul went 2 for 4 with two RBIs to lead Cypress.

Paul Bunch, Rick Nen, Tony Mendoza and Mick Mineni each had two hits and one RBI to help the Chargers (5-10, 21-16). Mike Roberson went 2 for 4 with an RBI to lead Saddleback.