Community College Baseball : Pierce Comes to Rescue Again as Orange Coast Defeats Rancho Santiago

Eddie Pierce made his second impressive relief appearance against Rancho Santiago this season and helped Orange Coast College to a 14-7 victory in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Tuesday at OCC.

Pierce replaced starter Ryan Thibault in the seventh inning with the bases loaded, one out and OCC leading, 8-6. Pierce, a sophomore left-hander, fell behind pinch-hitter Harvey Cotton, three balls and one strike, but came back to strike out Cotton on a full-count breaking pitch. He then got Danny Ontiveros to ground to first baseman Scott Talanoa, who made a nice play on a bad bounce, for the final out.

OCC scored five runs in the seventh to take a 13-6 lead. Pierce allowed a run in 2 2/3 innings for his fourth save. Thibault (8-1) got the victory.

Pierce, who also starts in right field, pitched 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief as OCC defeated Rancho Santiago, 8-5, April 8.

The victory by OCC (26-10-1 overall and 13-7 in conference play) makes a tight race ever tighter.

Rancho Santiago (25-13, 14-6) leads second-place Cypress (27-12, 13-6) by a half-game. OCC is a game back, and Golden West (18-12-1, 12-7) trails by 1 1/2 games. Cypress plays at Rancho Santiago Thursday at 2:30 p.m. Golden West is at Fullerton, and Orange Coast is at Riverside also Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

OCC scored three runs in the first and three more in the second for a 6-0 lead.

Talanoa walked with the bases loaded for the first run and Darrell Conner had a two-run single also in the first. Craig Nixon had an RBI single, Jason Young grounded into a force play for another run, and Marty Cordova had an RBI triple for OCC in the second.

Sean Ramos had an RBI single in the third, and John McTaggart had a two-run double in the fifth as Rancho Santiago cut the lead to, 6-3. Louie Maldonado had a sacrifice fly and Tim Reynolds had an RBI single as the Dons made it, 6-5, in the sixth.

But OCC turned to its best offensive weapon--Talanoa--in the bottom of the sixth.

Young opened with a triple, and Talanoa drilled a two-run home run off starter Jack Bailey to give OCC an 8-5 lead.

Talanoa broke out a mild slump with with two singles, a double off the top of the center-field fence, and a home run in four at-bats. Talanoa, who leads the conference with 16 home runs, had been one for eight in past two games.

Jack Bailey (10-3) took the loss. Bailey started four times against OCC this season, winning his first two, but losing his last two.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Golden West 9, Saddleback 6--Josh Bammer hit a two-run home run, his fifth, and Ken Lynch had an RBI single in the first as host Golden West opened a 5-0 lead. Saddleback made four errors, three in the first to help the Rustlers (18-12-1, 12-7).

Todd Long (4-1) pitched 6 1/3 innings for the victory. Ken Pope pitched the final 1 2/3 for his third save. Scott Turner, a freshman second baseman from Westminster High School making his first start, had two hits and scored a run for Golden West. Ted Savage, Jason Pysar, and Tony Spann had two hits each for Saddleback (14-15-1, 6-12-1).

Fullerton 7, Riverside 0--Willie Barber (3-9) pitched a three-hitter for Fullerton (11-23, 6-14) at Riverside. Barber, a sophomore right-hander, had five strikeouts and walked one. Willie Speakman had three hits and an RBI, and Sal Capraro and Kevin Monson had two hits and an RBI each for Fullerton. Riverside is 6-21-1, 3-15-1.