Community College Baseball : Golden West Beats Fullerton

Golden West College scored eight runs in the first inning and went on to defeat Fullerton, 10-6, in a South Coast Conference baseball game Wednesday at Fullerton.

James Buccheri had four hits, including his second home run of the season, to lead Golden West (22-11, 10-5), which pulled into a second-place tie with Fullerton (27-8-1, 10-5), Cerritos and Mt. San Antonio. The four teams trail El Camino by a game.

Mike Huyler had three hits and Tom Thobe (8-2) went the distance for Golden West.

Deryk Hudson hit two home runs and had four RBIs for Fullerton. Mark Tranberg (4-2) started but didn’t get out of the first inning for Fullerton.

In the Orange Empire Conference:

Citrus 9, Rancho Santiago 5--Bobby Hamelin hit his 22nd home run for first-place Rancho Santiago (29-6, 11-3), which leads Cypress by a game. Ed Luna hit his second home run and Jack Bailey took the loss. Host Citrus (7-6, 20-15) moves into a third-place tie with Orange Coast.

Cypress 4, Orange Coast 3 (11 innings)--Tim Churchill’s school-record 34-game hitting streak was stopped, but he walked and scored the winning run in the 11th. Churchill was 0 for 4. Ken Briggs’ home run for Cypress in the sixth with two out broke up a perfect game for Sam Calarusso (4-4). Benny Gonzales (10-1) went the distance for Cypress (27-8, 10-4). Craig Nixon hit a home run for OCC (22-15-1, 7-6), and Steve Gill hit a home run for Cypress.

Saddleback 8, Riverside 4--Dean Martinez (7-6) struck out 4 and scattered 7 hits in 7 innings to lead host Saddleback (16-19, 4-9). Jeff Walters went 3 for 4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored, Bill Lasher hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Matt Lundin went 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI.