The Community Colleges : Baseball Roundup : Cypress’ Patterson, a Starter Again, Shuts Out OCC on Three Singles

Just when Cypress College’s Jeff Patterson became comfortable with his role as a relief pitcher, he was called on to start again.

Patterson, making his first start in three weeks, obviously had no trouble making the adjustment. He pitched a three-hitter to lead Cypress to a 6-0 victory over Orange Coast in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Saturday at Cypress.

Patterson, a sophomore right-hander from Loara High School, had been mostly a starter the first two months of the season, but was moved to help shore up the Chargers’ bullpen. He has pitched in 17 games this season, making eight starts.

Patterson worked 2 2/3 innings and earned a save Thursday in Cypress’ 3-1 victory over Fullerton. He arrived Saturday expecting to work in relief of starter Ken Tolbert. But, about 30 minutes before the game, Cypress Coach Scott Pickler changed his mind.

“Patterson just wanted the ball,” Pickler said. “That was his best outing of the year. He didn’t try and overthrow the ball, he just worked on location and staying ahead of the hitters.”

Patterson (7-2) finished with eight strikeouts and two walks. He allowed a single to Eddie Pierce in the second, a single to Jason Young in the third, and an infield single to Pierce in the ninth.

Patterson retired 11 in a row, a string that began with the last out in the third inning and ended with a one-out walk to Pierce in the seventh. He then retired the next seven batters before Pierce’s two-out single in the ninth.

“I’ve got the relieving down,” Patterson said. “I can get ready in about seven pitches. But today, I had to get used to starting again. I was up getting ready three times before the game. They had to keep telling me to sit down.

“I’ve been working on location a lot and it helped today.”

It was the third shutout in the conference this season, and all have involved OCC. Rancho Santiago’s Jack Bailey shut out the Pirates, 9-0, Feb. 28. OCC’s John Douris blanked Riverside, 6-0, March 18.

Douris (7-2) also was the starter Saturday, but was knocked out in the sixth.

Cypress’ Jason Friedman led off the fourth with his seventh home run of the season.

In the fifth, Cypress scored four more runs. Jim Short singled and Chris Hunt doubled. Douris threw a wild pitch to allow Short to score. Terry Tewell then singled home Hunt and Cypress led, 3-0.

Mitch Kaylor singled and Steve Gill followed with a single to score Tewell. Kaylor was thrown out trying to steal third, but Gill moved to second. Friedman lined out, but Brett Gregory doubled to score Gill with the final run of the inning.

Joey Gonzalez doubled to open the sixth and scored on a single by Hunt.

Cypress (27-12 overall and 13-6 in conference play) remains a game behind Rancho Santiago (25-12, 14-5), which defeated Fullerton, 15-2, Saturday. OCC (25-10-1, 12-7) falls two back with five to play.

OCC plays host to Rancho Santiago Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., while Cypress has a bye. Cypress is at Rancho Santiago for 2:30 p.m. game Thursday.

In another Orange Empire Conference game:

Rancho Santiago 15, Fullerton 2--Willie Navarrette (9-4) pitched seven innings for the victory for host Rancho Santiago (14-5, 25-12), which had 19 hits. It was the 20th career victory for Navarrette at Rancho Santiago. He was 11-0 last season.

Marty Neff and Sean Ramos hit solo home runs and Greg Martineau hat a three-run homer for Rancho Santiago. Conrad Colby had four hits including two singles, a double and a triple. John McTaggart had three hits and three RBIs, Ramos had two hits and two RBIs and Tim Reynolds had two hits and an RBI for Rancho Santiago. The Dons scored four runs in the first, one in the third, four in the fourth, three in the sixth, and three in the eighth.