Community College Roundup : Golden West Rallies, Then Holds On, 10-9

Golden West College scored five runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth, then had to hang on for a 10-9 victory over Rancho Santiago in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Thursday at Golden West.

Rancho Santiago led, 7-3, after six innings before the Rustlers rallied. The victory moved Golden West (10-5, 4-1) into a first-place tie with Rancho Santiago (11-7, 4-1).

Rancho Santiago tied it, 8-8, in the top of the eighth, but Golden West scored twice in the eighth on an RBI triple by Craig Paquette and a sacrifice fly by Dan Villegas to take a 10-8 lead.

Golden West’s Toby Foreman walked the bottom three hitters in the Rancho Santiago lineup to start the ninth. Foreman was replaced by Ken Pope, who got Tim Reynolds to ground into a double play, allowing a run to score. Conrad Colby grounded out to end the game.

John Webber hit his first home run for Rancho Santiago, and Craig Paquette hit his sixth home run for Golden West.

In other Orange Empire Conference baseball games:

Saddleback 6, Cypress 5--Saddleback tied the score, 5-5, on a two-run home run by Brent Ferguson in the seventh. Saddleback (8-4, 2-3) scored the winning run in the eighth on a RBI groundout by Larry Maddox. Matt Dahlgren walked, went to second on an error and third on a passed ball, before scoring on Maddox’s grounder.

Todd Bush worked the final four innings, getting nine strikeouts, for the victory. Dennis Burbank (6-2) pitched a complete game for Cypress. Three Saddleback pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts. Jason Friedman had two hits and two RBIs and advanced his hitting streak to 12 games for Cypress. Brett Gregory also had two hits for Cypress (15-6, 3-2), including his fourth home run.

Orange Coast 7, Fullerton 3--Marty Cordova had two hits including a home run and two RBIs to lead host OCC (13-5-1, 3-3), which has won three consecutive conference games. Darrell Conner had two hits and an RBI and Mike Kelly had a hit and an RBI for OCC. Mike Golia (1-0) worked 5 2/3 innings of relief for the victory. Russ Barnes hit a home run for Fullerton (7-9, 2-3).

In Empire Conference Conference men’s tennis:

Rancho Santiago 7 1/2, Fullerton 1 1/2--Alex Venidis and Dan Manounyavong swept their singles matches for Rancho Santiago (2-1, 5-3) Fullerton is 0-4 in conference.

In nonconference men’s tennis:

Cypress 6, El Camino 3--Eric Glade won at No. 1 singles, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and combined with Richard Walker to win at No. 1 doubles, 6-3, 6-4, for host Cypress (8-2).