Community College Baseball Roundup : Cypress Gets Out of Gate Quickly, Then Holds On to Beat Orange Coast

The Cypress College baseball team proved a few things in its 14-10 victory over Orange Coast Saturday at OCC in the Orange Empire Conference opener for both teams.

The game, which featured the two favorites for the conference title, proved Cypress could -- sustain a rally; all of its runs came with two outs. The Chargers also showed they could take advantage of walks; OCC pitchers walked 11 batters, six of whom scored.

It also proved Cypress Coach Scott Pickler isn’t afraid to use a starting pitcher as a late reliever.

Pickler called on Dennis Burbank, one of his starters, to finish what started as a blowout for Cypress.

Cypress led, 11-5, going into the eighth inning when starter Jeff Patterson finally faded.

by Patterson (4-0) had a shutout through four innings. But with one out in the eighth, he had allowed six runs and OCC had the bases loaded.

Brian Behnke then came on to face Eddie Pierce, who lined Behnke’s second pitch down the right-field line for a three-run double that cut Cypress’ lead to 11-9.

Burbank replaced Behnke and Pierce scored when Marty Cordova reached second on an error by second baseman Mitch Kaylor. Burbank struck out Scott Talanoa and retired Darrel Conner on a ground ball to end the inning.

Cypress (13-4 overall) scored three runs in the top of the ninth and Burbank got OCC in order in the bottom of the ninth for his first save.

“We’ll go to the starters in that situation,” Pickler said. “All three (Patterson, Burbank and Jeff Lodding) are big and strong. Until someone is established as our reliever, we will have to do that.”

Cypress opened a 3-0 lead in the first when Brett Gregory hit a three-run home run off OCC starter John Douris (3-1), who took the loss. Doug Yates had a two-run double off Douris in the second inning and he was replaced by Mike Golia.

Cypress took a 6-0 lead in the fifth when Golia walked Mike Neal to force in a run. He had walked three others in the inning to load the bases.

OCC (10-3-1) rallied in the fifth on a three-run double by Pierce, who was five for five with six RBIs. Cypress got three more in the sixth on a two-run double by Gregory and an RBI double by Bobby Thome to lead, 9-3. OCC scored a run in the sixth but Cypress got two more in the seventh on a home run by Jason Friedman for an 11-4 lead.

“‘We didn’t make the pitches when we had to with two outs, and we walked too many hitters,” OCC Coach Mike Mayne said. “That was it in a nutshell.”

In other Orange Empire League openers:

Rancho Santiago 9, Fullerton 8--The Dons took advantage of six Fullerton errors to score six unearned runs, including two in a four-run eighth inning that broke a 5-5 tie. The Hornets (5-7, 0-1) rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth, including two on Rob Bailey’s two-run triple. But Rancho Santiago reliever Jack Bailey entered the game with runners on first and third and two outs and got the final out on a force out, then retired the side in order in the ninth. Marty Neff had a two-run home run and Willie Navarette (2-2) pitched 7 1/3 innings to pick up the victory for the Dons (7-6, 0-1). For Fullerton, Russ Barnes was two for four with a pair of runs batted in and John Mele hit his second home run of the year. Norm Hunter (1-1) took the loss.

Saddleback 7, Riverside 2 (10 innings)--Saddleback scored five runs in the 10th at Riverside. Justin Pysar had a two-run double and Brian Hoialman had a two-run triple in the 10th for Saddleback (6-1).