Southern California Community College Baseball Regionals : Fill-In Misuraca Pitches OCC Into State Tournament

Mike Misuraca has played plenty of shortstop this season for Orange Coast College, but he made a special guest appearence on the mound Sunday to lead OCC to a 14-7 victory over Oxnard in a Southern California Regional baseball game at OCC.

OCC (32-11) swept the series, 2-0, to earn a berth in the state tournament starting Friday at San Jose.

Misuraca, a freshman, had pitched 13 innings this season before Coach Mike Mayne picked him to pitch Saturday, but he isn’t a stranger to the mound. He was 11-1 at Glendora High School last season. This season, he has played mostly shortstop, has hit .374 and was selected as an Orange Empire Conference first-team infielder.

Sunday, Misuraca limited Oxnard to one run through the first five innings as OCC built a 12-1 lead. Misuraca (2-1) tired in the final four innings, giving up six runs--including a three-run home run to Phil White in the eighth--but was able to finish the game.

“I was pitching a lot different with the big lead,” Misuraca said. “Early in the game I was getting my breaking ball over the plate, but after we got the big lead, I was just trying to get some pace on my fastball instead of working on location. I figured they would be taking a strike.”

Misuraca now figures into OCC’s state tournament pitching plans, but Mayne said he didn’t know who will start Friday in San Jose.

Jim Foley (10-2) has been the ace of the staff all season but hasn’t gotten past the fifth in his last three starts. David Dawson, who was out with an elbow injury for three weeks, has been effective in his last two outings--he has not allowed a run in 8 innings--and might also start.

OCC, which qualified for the regionals by winning the Orange Empire Conference, had 17 hits off four Oxnard pitchers, including six in a row during a six-run fifth that gave the Pirates their 12-1 lead. Val Lopez (7-4) pitched into the third for Oxnard (30-10-1), which qualified for the regionals by winning the Northern Division of the Western State Conference.

Mark Rasmussen, who scored four runs, opened the fifth with a double. Mannie Adams popped to the pitcher, and then Mike Lujan hit a two-run home run, his fifth.

J.J. Culpepper doubled, Rex Peters had an RBI single, Ralph Ramirez had a single, Joey James hit a two-run double and Dave Staton doubled to score James. It was Staton’s 29th double of his OCC career, breaking the school record of 28 held by Glenn Robertson (1977-78). Staton hit his 11th home run in the seventh.

James had three hits, and Culpepper, Peters, Ramirez, Staton, Rasmussen and Adams had two hits each. Adams, who replaced Misuraca at shortstop, had a two-run double in the third.