Community College Baseball : OCC Recovers Quickly, Rips Golden West, 15-2

Orange Coast College’s baseball team hit a brief low Tuesday, when it was upset by last-place Riverside.

But OCC came back with a 15-2 pounding of Golden West in an Orange Empire Conference game Thursday at Golden West.

Tuesday, OCC could have moved into a first-place tie with Rancho Santiago, but was upset, 10-7. Now, OCC (23-9-1 overall and 10-6 in conference) is a half-game out of first.

“I thought we looked past Riverside,” OCC Coach Mike Mayne said. “It was important for this club to win today. I was leery coming in. You stub your toe against Riverside and you don’t know if it’s going to be an infection.”

Thursday, OCC took control from the outset with three runs in the first and three more in the second to build a 6-0 lead.

From there, OCC pitcher Ryan Thibault had things going his way. Thibault, a left-hander, pitched a six-hitter with nine strikeouts and one walk. His record improved to 6-1.

“Thibault threw about as well as you can,” Mayne said. “He made three bad pitches all day. Other than that, he was in command.”

OCC’s Scott Talanoa hit a three-run home run well over the left-field fence to give OCC a 6-0 lead in the second. Hector Santa Cruz had walked with one out in the second, and Craig Nixon followed with a single. Jason Young flied to center for the second out, but Talanoa hit his conference-leading 13th home run of the season. Talanoa, OCC’s designated hitter, also had an RBI single in the first inning.

OCC was helped in the first when Golden West third baseman Josh Bammer dropped a high pop-up near the mound. Young flied to center for what would have been the third out, but it was only the second. Talanoa, Marty Cordova and Eddie Pierce followed with consecutive RBI singles off loser Dave Turner.

Golden West managed single runs in the fourth and fifth to make it 6-2.

OCC came back with two more runs in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and five in the eighth.

Nixon, Young and Pierce had three hits each for OCC, which had 16. Talanoa had four RBIs, Santa Cruz, Cordova and Pierce had two RBIs each. Nixon also scored four runs.

Golden West falls to 15-11-1 overall, and 9-6 and fourth place in conference.

In other Orange Empire games:

Cypress 4, Riverside 2--Cypress moved into a first-place tie with Rancho Santiago with a victory at Riverside. Dennis Burbank (9-4) and Jeff Patterson combined on a six-hitter. Patterson pitched 2 1/3 innings, retiring the final eight batters he faced, for the save. Doug Yates hit a two-run homer in the third for Cypress (24-11, 10-5). Mitch Kaylor had an RBI single in the ninth for Cypress’ final run.

Saddleback 5, Fullerton 3--Saddleback scored five runs in the third inning for the victory at Saddleback. Sean Therien went two for four with two RBIs, and Don Harrell added two hits for Saddleback (14-10-1, 6-7-1).

Eric Patton (4-3) gave up seven hits and struck out nine for the victory, and Todd Bush got his ninth save of the season.

In a nonconference game:

Rancho Santiago 14, Cerritos 9--Tim Reynolds went four for six with three RBIs and a home run, Conrad Colby went three for three with two RBIs, and John McTaggart had three hits and three RBIs to lead Rancho Santiago (21-12) at home.