Community College Baseball Roundup : Talanoa, Orange Coast Edge Cypress, 19-18, but Fall Back With Forfeit

A wild afternoon that included 37 runs, 34 hits and three hours and 45 minutes of baseball came down to two pitches Thursday.

Cypress pitcher Dennis Burbank bounced a wild pitch for one run, then allowed a single to Scott Talanoa for another in the eighth inning to lift Orange Coast to a 19-18 victory over Cypress in an Orange Empire Conference game at OCC.

But the victory for OCC only meant a split for the day. Earlier Thursday, the Pirates learned they would forfeit a 16-6 conference victory Mar. 28 over Golden West for using an ineligible player--Talanoa.

Talanoa, who had four hits, scored four runs and had five RBIs Thursday, had been ejected for fighting in a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles Harbor Mar 24. Under National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules, which the conference follows, a player has to sit out the next game after fighting.

“He (Talanoa) asked me about it the day of the Golden West game and I didn’t know we were following those rules,” OCC Coach Mike Mayne said. “I was never informed of the new rule, but ignorance is no excuse.”

Instead of being a game behind conference-leading Rancho Santiago, OCC (22-8-1 overall and 8-5 in conference) is tied for third with Cypress (22-10), two games back. Golden West (14-9-1, 8-4) moved into second.

Talanoa helped fuel OCC’s comeback in the eighth with his second home run of the game and conference-leading 12th of the season. Cypress had scored five runs in the eighth to take an 18-12 lead.

After another OCC run, Mike Van Blaricom hit a three-run home run, his first of the season, to cut the Cypress lead to 18-17 in the eighth.

With one out, Hector Santa Cruz and Craig Nixon singled and Jason Young hit into a force play, putting runners on first and third.

Cypress went to Burbank, who became the Chargers’ fifth pitcher. Talanoa came up again, and Santa Cruz scored the tying run on Burbank’s wild pitch. Burbank then gave up the run-scoring single to Talanoa.

Cypress got two runners on in the ninth, but Eddie Pierce, OCC’s fifth pitcher, struck out Brett Gregory and Joey Gonzalez for the victory, improving his record to 3-0.

OCC had opened a 6-1 lead after three innings, but Cypress rallied with three in the fourth and six in the fifth to take a 10-6 lead. OCC scored three in the fifth to cut it to 10-9. Cypress got three in the sixth and OCC two, making it, 13-11. OCC scored a single run in the seventh.

Van Blaricom had two hits and five RBIs for OCC, which had 17 hits.

Doug Yates had four hits and drove in five to lead Cypress, which had 17 hits.

Cypress’ Mitch Kaylor reached base all seven times, including four walks. Jason Friedman had two hits and advanced his hitting streak to 23 games for Cypress.

In another Orange Empire Conference game:

Rancho Santiago 12, Fullerton 5--Danny Ontiveros went four for four with a home run, two RBIs and four runs scored to lead Rancho Santiago at Fullerton. Tim Reynolds, Chris Floth and Conrad Colby each had three hits for Rancho Santiago.

Rob Bailey went four for four with a triple, a home run and two RBIs for Fullerton (9-17, 4-9). Willie Navarrette (7-3) allowed nine hits and struck out two for the victory.