Palomar Loses in First Round at State Tournament

Palomar College ran out of surprises Thursday in the first round of the community college state basketball tournament at Santa Clara University.

Palomar was defeated by Columbia, 85-66, in front of 300 fans.

Palomar had scored a big upset just to get to Santa Clara, defeating Ventura, 82-79, in the Southern California Regionals. Ventura was defending state champion and seeded sixth in Southern California. Palomar, at No. 19, was the lowest-seeded team to make the final eight.

Columbia, the top-ranked team in the state, went on a 15-4 run and led, 25-14, with 10:57 left. Columbia led, 46-29, at the half.

Palomar cut the lead to 55-45 with 13:16 left but failed on three chances to get closer. Columbia (32-2) then went on a 10-2 run to make it 65-47 with 9:57 left.

Gary Williams had 34 points for Palomar, which ended the season 25-9. He was the only Palomar player in double-figures.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

U.S. International University’s Scott Coults hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning for a 2-1 lead, and the Gulls added three in the ninth to beat UC San Diego, 5-1, in college baseball at UCSD.

Coults’ hit off starter Rich Nowak (4-2) followed Alberto Escoto’s leadoff double. Winning pitcher Wally Trice (5-2) struck out nine in seven innings; Jeff Oswalt pitched two scoreless innings for his first save. UC San Diego is 8-4, USIU 9-12-1.

Temple University, ranked No. 1 in basketball, again found the going tough on the baseball field in San Diego County, losing to the University of San Diego, 12-4, at Cunningham Baseball Stadium.

It was Temple’s fifth loss in six tries to San Diego schools on its season-opening trip. USD (10-12) chased six pitchers and had 17 hits, including Pariss Sorianello’s two-run home run. Dave Rolls drove in three runs for USD.

Steve Montejano’s three-run double highlighted a five-run rally in the fifth inning as San Diego State beat Washington State, 7-1, in a nonconference game at Smith Field.

Montejano had two doubles and three RBIs, and Brian Lutes had two hits and two RBIs. Starter Greg Page (1-2) allowed one hit in eight innings for SDSU (12-9-1).

SOFTBALL

UC San Diego scored 12 runs in the first inning en route to a 15-0 rout of Azusa Pacific in a nonconference doubleheader at the La Jolla Jewish Community Center. UCSD won the second game, 2-1, in extra innings.

Stacie Sasaki (8-1) went five innings before the first game was halted because of the 10-run rule. Dana Chaiken had 3 hits, 3 runs and 2 RBIs.

In the second game, Tracey Kerr had an RBI single in the eighth with no outs to lift UCSD (15-3) and Patty Hurtt (7-2).

YOUTH BASEBALL

Tryouts for the San Diego County 15-year-old team, which will be competing in Mexico City in August, have been scheduled for Saturday and March 19 at El Toyan Park in National City. Saturday’s tryout begins at 10 a.m. For information call 267-5974.