Community College Baseball : Fullerton Beaten by Big Hitters From Cerritos, 9-4

Rod Benjamin hit a grand slam and Ole Koehmstedt hit a three-run triple to lead Cerritos College to a 9-4 victory over Fullerton Saturday in a South Coast Conference baseball game at Fullerton.

Cerritos led, 4-2, in the eighth when Benjamin hit his grand slam off reliever Jerry Spradlin.

Alan Newman walked the first hitter of the inning and was replaced by Spradlin, who hit a batter and gave up a bunt single before the home run. Todd Guggiana later had a triple and scored on a wild pitch and Cerritos led, 9-2.

Phil Diplock hit a home run and Rod Klopfer had a sacrifice fly in the eighth for Fullerton (15-4-1 overall, 1-2 in conference).

Cerritos (16-5, 1-2) took a 4-0 lead in the first inning. Fullerton starter Brad Hooper walked the first two batters, gave up an infield single and then a triple to Koehmstedt, who later scored on a groundout.

In another South Coast Conference game:

Golden West 5, El Camino 4 (11 innings)--Golden West scored two runs in the top of the 11th and hung on at El Camino.

In the 11th, Joe Aversa singled and moved to third on Jim Buccheri’s double. Mike Huyler and Craig Paquette then hit back-to-back sacrifice flies for Golden West (12-6, 3-0).

Aversa hit a two-run home run for Golden West in the fifth.

El Camino is 12-8 and 2-1.

In the Orange Empire Conference:

Cypress 10, Citrus 8--Mark Steinert hit two home runs, solo shots in the fifth and seventh, to lead a 17-hit attack by host Cypress. Jason Friedman went 4 for 5 and Tim Churchill went 3 for 5 with a three-run home run for Cypress (16-4, 2-0).

Saddleback 4, Orange Coast 3--Saddleback’s Donnie Harrell had three RBIs, all on sacrifices, and squeezed in the winning run in the eighth inning. Winning pitcher Dean Martinez (5-2) struck out three for host Saddleback (11-10, 1-1). Orange Coast is 15-11-1 and 0-2.