Community College Notebook : Rancho Santiago Could Polish Off Baseball Race

Although there are more than two weeks left in the Orange Empire Conference baseball race, first-place Rancho Santiago College could make it a pretty dull finish with two victories this week.

The Dons (25-12 overall and 14-5 in conference play) hold a one-game lead over second-place Cypress and a two-game lead over Orange Coast. Golden West is 2 1/2 games back.

Rancho Santiago plays at Orange Coast (25-10-1, 12-7) today at 2:30 p.m. and then plays host to Cypress (27-12, 13-6) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

“These are our two most important games yet,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “By the end of the week, we will have a definite idea which way the race will go.”

If any team has an advantage this week, it would be Cypress because of the schedule. The Chargers defeated Orange Coast, 6-0, Saturday and have a bye today.

The Orange Empire is a seven-team conference, so each team has a scheduled bye in each round. Cypress’ bye falls between games against Orange Coast and Rancho Santiago.

The Dons figure to send Jack Bailey (10-2) to the mound today and Orange Coast should counter with Ryan Thibault (7-1). Rancho Santiago would then pitch Willie Navarrette (9-4) against Cypress, which will have three rested starters in Jeff Patterson, Dennis Burbank and Rich Lodding.

Bailey and Navarrette, two reasons for the Dons’ success, have also been called on more often than any other pitchers in the conference.

Navarrette has pitched 119 2/3 innings and Bailey 111 1/3. The next highest total in the conference belongs to Cypress’ Patterson with 90 2/3.

“I’m not worried about them being tired,” Sneddon said of Bailey and Navarrette. “They are both healthy and strong and we’ve been very fortunate in that they normally have low-pitch totals.”

Orange Coast is the favorite in the Orange Empire Conference swimming finals and Golden West is the favorite in the South Coast Conference finals, which both start Thursday.

Orange Coast won the men’s and women’s titles--each team finishing 8-0--and should continue to dominate in the conference meet at Saddleback Thursday through Saturday.

The Orange Coast women’s team, coached by Don Watson, has won 64 consecutive dual matches, dating back to February 1982. The team had won four consecutive state titles before finishing second to Diablo Valley College last season.

The Golden West men’s and women’s teams also went undefeated in six dual matches. The South Coast Conference meet is Thursday through Saturday at Cerritos.

Orange Coast and Golden West will be among the favorites at the state meet May 4-6 at Diablo Valley in Pleasant Hill.

Community College Notes

Rancho Santiago pitcher Jack Bailey and Golden West infielder Craig Paquette have signed national letters of intent to attend Cal State Fullerton this fall. . . . Rob Bailey, a sophomore outfielder at Fullerton, has signed to attend the University of Texas this fall. Mitch Kaylor, a freshman second baseman at Cypress, has signed to attend Cal State Long Beach this fall. Ryan Thibault, a sophomore pitcher at Orange Coast, has signed to attend Pepperdine this fall. . . . Cypress played Saturday without sophomore first baseman Doug Yates, who suffered a broken nose in a collision with catcher Terry Tewell chasing a foul popup Wednesday. Yates, who had his nose set Monday, also received 15 stitches above his left eye. Cypress has a bye today, but Yates is expected to play Thursday.