Community College Baseball Roundup : Cypress Rallies With 5 in the Ninth to Win Title

Twice in the past week, Cypress College got some unexpected help in its quest for the Orange Empire Conference baseball title. And it looked for eight innings Saturday as if the Chargers might need another favor.

But Cypress staged a five-run rally in the ninth inning to defeat Fullerton, 6-4, at Cypress and win the title on the final day of the regular season.

Cypress tied it, 4-4, on a two-run home run by Mitch Kaylor and won it on a two-run home run by Jason Friedman.

The inning started when Mike Scott was walked by Trevor Paintor. Terry Tewell then doubled off the right-field fence, leaving runners at second and third and bringing up Kaylor.

Painter got two quick strikes, but threw a wild pitch, allowing Scott to score and cutting the lead to 4-2.

Kaylor worked the count full, then lofted a breaking pitch off the scoreboard, just above the left-field fence for a two-run home run.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Kaylor said. “With my power, I can’t tell if anything is out. I was just running.”

Paintor was replaced by Mark Rogers, who got Steve Gill to ground to first, but the ball got away from Greg Gistlinck for an error. Friedman then drove the ball well over the center-field fence for the game-winner.

“I was looking to go to dead center,” Friedman said. “He threw me my pitch--a knee-high fastball--and I just drove it.”

Cypress (31-13 overall and 17-7 in conference play) started last week a game behind Rancho Santiago. But Rancho Santiago was upset by last-place Riverside Tuesday and Golden West Thursday. Cypress beat Golden West Thursday to move into a tie and topped Saddleback Thursday to take over first.

Rancho Santiago (27-15, 16-8) defeated Saddleback, 5-3, Saturday to finish in a tie for second with Orange Coast. Had Cypress lost, Rancho Santiago, OCC (29-11-1, 16-8) and Cypress would have finished in a three-way tie for first.

This is the first conference championship for Cypress Coach Scott Pickler in his four seasons at the school and the first for Cypress since 1979.

But until the ninth, a championship didn’t appear likely. The Chargers struggled for seven innings against Fullerton starter Will Barber. Fullerton (12-27, 7-17) scored single runs in the first and second and two more in the seventh for a 4-1 lead.

Rich Lodding started for Cypress and allowed two runs in 2 1/3 innings. He was replaced by Jeff Patterson, who allowed two unearned runs on three hits and struck out nine in the final 6 2/3 innings. He raised his record to 9-3.

Cypress will have 13 days off until the first round of the Southern California Regionals.

Rancho Santiago 5, Saddleback 3--Jack Bailey (11-4) pitched seven innings for the victory for visiting Rancho Santiago. Marty Neff and Tim Reynolds had two hits and two RBIs each for Rancho Santiago. Derek Gingerich hit a home run for Saddleback (16-18-1, 8-15-1).

Golden West 4, Riverside 1--Todd Long (6-1) allowed eight hits, struck out five and walked none, for his third complete game of the season. Ken Lynch drove in two runs to lead Golden West (21-14-1, 15-9) Riverside is 7-26-1 and 4-19-1.