Community College Baseball : Wild Pitch Enables OCC to Edge Rancho Santiago

Mike Misuraca scored on a wild pitch in the 10th inning as Orange Coast College defeated Rancho Santiago, 8-7, Tuesday in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game at Rancho Santiago.

Misuraca had singled to open the 10th, then continued to second when the ball got past left fielder Danny Ontiveros. He moved to third base on a wild pitch.

Tim MacNeil, a sophomore right-hander, almost got out of the inning. MacNeil got Denny Berni to hit a high bouncer to shortstop and it appeared Misuraca could have scored, but he hesitated, and had to hold. Darrel Conner then hit a shallow fly ball to second baseman Mike Gonzales for the second out.

With J.J. Culpepper hitting, MacNeil then bounced a 1-1 curveball in front of the plate that Culpepper swung at, and the ball bounced far enough away from catcher Don Roberson to allow Misuraca to score.

Rancho Santiago had Bobby Hamelin walk with two down in the bottom of the 10th, but Rich Gonzales flied out to end the game.

“You always wait for the ball to go through when you’re on third,” OCC Coach Mike Mayne said. “But there is one exception and that is the high bouncer. Mike could have scored, but he just wasn’t ready to run. He was maybe a little overly aggressive on the wild pitch, but we’ll take it.”

The loss snapped Rancho Santiago’s eight-game winning streak. Rancho Santiago (23-4 overall, 5-1 in conference play), the top-ranked team in Southern California, dropped into a first-place tie with Cypress. OCC is 18-12-1 and 3-3.

Rancho Santiago scored a run in the first inning and four in the third to take a 5-0 lead. In the third, Ontiveros singled and Tim Reynolds walked. Ontiveros scored on an error by Misuraca and Reynolds scored on an RBI single by Hamelin. It was Hamelin’s 67th RBI of the season to tie the Rancho Santiago single-season record set by Ruben Gonzalez in 1985.

Rich Gonzales had an RBI single and Roberson walked to force in the final run of the inning.

After scoring two runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth, OCC took the lead, 7-6, with four runs in the sixth inning.

Derek Dehdashtian led off with his 14th home run of the season. Denny Berni and Hector Santa Cruz later had RBI singles, and Jason Young drove in another run with a sacrifice fly. Rancho Santiago tied it, 7-7, on an RBI single by Rich Gonzales.

Sal Colarusso (4-3) replaced starter John Kuzmic in the third and worked the final 7 innings for the victory. MacNeil (4-2) worked the final 4 innings to take the loss.

In another Orange Empire Conference game:

Cypress 3, Saddleback 1--Benny Gonzales (7-0) gave up three hits and struck out nine to lead the Chargers (22-5, 5-1) at Saddleback. Tim Churchill of Cypress had a two-out double in the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 27 games. Bobby Thome and Mark Steinert had two hits each to help Cypress. Jeff Walters had two hits for Saddleback (14-15, 2-4). Dean Martinez (6-5) pitched 7 innings and gave up nine hits to take the loss.

In the South Coast Conference:

Fullerton 10, Compton 4--A seven-run seventh inning led host Fullerton to victory. Compton (5-10, 0-7) led, 4-2, going into the bottom of the seventh, but Fullerton took a 5-4 lead on a two-run single by Scott Einhorn. Deryk Hudson also had a two-run single during the inning. Mark Kiefer threw a 6-hitter, striking out 13, for the victory. Kiefer (7-0) allowed just two earned runs. Fred Camarena also drove in two runs for Fullerton (22-5-1, 5-2).

Golden West 19, Mt. San Antonio 6--Golden West had a season-high 19 runs and 21 hits and scored in each inning for the victory at Golden West. Craig Paquette went 4 for 5 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored and Keith Laszlo and Joe Aversa each added 3 hits to lead the Rustlers (16-9, 4-3). Mt. SAC is 17-9 and 3-4. Bill Baird (4-2) gave up five hits in going five innings for the victory.