Community Colleges : Rancho Santiago Edges Golden West in 9th
Marty Neff’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Rancho Santiago College a 4-3 victory over Golden West in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Saturday at Rancho Santiago.
Golden West had tied it, 3-3, in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by pinch-hitter Shelby Hart.
Conrad Colby started Rancho Santiago’s winning rally with a one-out single and went to third on a double by John McTaggart. Golden West starter Dave Turner was then replaced by Ken Pope, who walked pinch-hitter Sean Ramos to load the bases. Then, with the infielders playing in and the outfielders very shallow, Neff singled over the head of left-fielder Steve McKowen.
The loss was the third of the week for Golden West (12-10-1, 6-4), which fell from second to fourth place. Golden West lost to OCC, 16-6, Tuesday, and to Cypress, 7-2, Thursday.
Rancho Santiago (18-10, 8-3) is the conference leader, OCC (21-7-1, 8-4) is in second and Cypress is third (21-9, 7-4).
Neff had an RBI single in the fourth to give Rancho Santiago a 1-0 lead. Josh Bammer scored on a wild pitch and Paul Weldon had an RBI single as Golden West took a 2-1 lead in the fifth.
Ed Renteria had an RBI single as Rancho Santiago tied it, 2-2, in the sixth. Greg Martineau had an RBI double as Rancho Santiago took a 3-2 lead in the seventh.
Willie Navarrette (6-3) pitched a complete game for the victory.
In other Orange Empire Conference games:
Orange Coast 7, Fullerton 3--Scott Talanoa hit a three-run home run in the eighth to give visiting Orange Coast a 6-3 lead. It was the 10th home run for Talanoa, who leads the conference. Talanoa had three hits and scored two runs for OCC (21-7-1, 8-4). Dominic Alvarez (1-0) got the victory in relief and starter Will Barber took the loss. John Mele had a solo home run for Fullerton (9-15, 4-7).
Cypress 7, Saddleback 1--Jeff Patterson (6-1) pitched a four-hitter with nine strikeouts for visiting Cypress (21-9, 7-4). Jason Friedman had three hits, including his sixth home run for Cypress, and extended his hitting streak to 21 games. Doug Yates and Friedman had back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning. Terry Tewell had two hits for Cypress. Saddleback is 11-9-1, 3-7-1.