State Community College Baseball Tournament : Orange Coast Upsets No. 1 Cerritos, 6-1 : Dawson Throws Two-Hitter to Lead Pirates Into the Semifinals

Dave Dawson finally pitched the kind of game Orange Coast College baseball coach Mike Mayne has been waiting for him to throw all season.

Dawson pitched a two-hitter and the Pirates scored six unearned runs to upset Cerritos, 6-1, Saturday in the second round of the state community college baseball tournament at San Jose Municipal Stadium.

Cerritos (41-5) is the top-ranked team in the state, and the loss snapped the Falcons’ 20-game winning streak. Cerritos had beaten OCC three times this season.

OCC (35-11) will play Sacramento City (47-6), the No. 2-ranked team in the state, in the semifinal game today at 2, and the loser will play again tonight. The championship game is Monday at 11.

Dawson was 10-3 at West Los Angeles College last season, but he transferred to OCC when West L.A. dropped its baseball program because of lack of funds.

Before the season, Mayne said Dawson, a right-hander, would be the standout of his pitching staff. But Dawson (5-3) was bothered by a sore elbow most of the season and finally had to sit out the last two weeks of April. Before Saturday, he had pitched in relief twice--picking up two victories in 8 scoreless innings--since returning from his injury. He now has gone 17 innings without giving up an earned run.

OCC scored five unearned runs in the first off loser Tim Lockhart (11-3).

After Mike Lujan reached first on a fielding error by shortstop Brian Grebeck and J.J. Culpepper walked, Rex Peters singled to the gap in left-center. Lujan rounded third, stopped and was caught in a rundown. He escaped when he dived past Cerritos catcher Craig Wilson, who had the ball but couldn’t reach Lujan to make the tag.

Culpepper and Peters scored when Joey James reached first after second baseman Bret Barberie couldn’t handle a hard-hit ground ball. James advanced to second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Dave Staton, giving OCC a 4-0 lead. Lujan’s single scored Staton.

OCC scored again in the eighth on an RBI single by Mike Misuraca. Dawson made the lead stand up, mixing change-ups and fastballs. The Falcons’ only hits were a first-inning single by Todd Guggiana and a sixth-inning single by Wilson.

“I really didn’t have that much velocity,” Dawson said. “I spotted my fastball to locations and threw a lot of changes. I hardy threw my curve.”

Cerritos scored an unearned run in the fourth. With runners on first and second, Dawson got Craig Wilson to ground back to the mound. Dawson threw to second, where Misuraca made the force on Brian Hunter. But the shortstop’s relay went past first baseman Rex Peters, allowing Guggiana to score.

Cerritos had two on in the sixth with one out, but Guggiana lined into a double play.

“I’m so glad for him (Dawson),” Mayne said. “He showed he can really be one of the best around.

“But it’s no bigger a win than the first game or any other in this tournament. We can’t get too excited about it. We still have more to play.”

Misuraca (2-1) is expected to pitch for OCC against Sacramento City, which defeated defending state champion College of the Canyons, 7-6, Saturday.