Community College : Baseball : Golden West Rallies for 13-11 Victory

Golden West College rallied from an eight-run deficit to defeat Saddleback, 13-11, Friday in the championship semifinals of the Saddleback baseball tournament.

The Rustlers (14-8) trailed, 8-0, after five innings but scored 11 runs in the sixth. Joe Auersa and Jim Buccheri hit back-to-back home runs in the inning. Auersa’s was a grand slam.

Auersa finished with five runs batted in on two hits. Buccheri had two hits and three RBIs.

Jeff Walters had two hits, including a home run, and three RBIs for Saddleback (12-13).

In the Channel Coast tournament:

Rancho Santiago 12, El Camino 3--Joey Townsend had three hits and three RBIs to lead Rancho Santiago in a second-round game at Santa Barbara City College. Mike Gonzales and Craig Washington each had two RBIs for Rancho Santiago (22-3).

In the Alan Hancock tournament:

Cypress 13, Merced 4--Bobby Thome had three hits, including a home run, and two RBIs to lead Cypress (21-5) in a round-robin game at Elks Park in Santa Maria. Thome has four home runs in the first three games of the tournament. Kenny Briggs also had three hits and three RBIs for Cypress.

In the Mesa tournament:

Fullerton 8, Cochise 7--Deryk Hudson singled in Mike Oziminski in the ninth inning to give Fullerton (19-5-1) the victory at Mesa, Ariz. Emmitt Cohick was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs, and Rodney Klopfer hit a two-run home run for Fullerton.