COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Beats OCC, 4-3, on Pinch Hit in Eighth

George Saldana’s pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning gave Rancho Santiago College a 4-3 victory over Orange Coast in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Saturday at OCC.

Saldana’s two-out single to right scored Jeff White, who had opened the inning with a single and went to second on a balk.

OCC had two on and two outs in the ninth when reliever Rob Nay got pinch-hitter Mike Burns to ground out to end the game. It was Nay’s first save.

Rancho Santiago (14-2, 4-0) built a 3-1 lead with two runs in the fourth and Marty Neff’s solo home run in the fifth. It was Neff’s 10th home run of the season.

OCC tied it with two runs in the seventh on an RBI triple by Sean Therien and an RBI single by Kevin Schula.

Winning pitcher Matt Lackie (4-1) allowed six hits and had eight strikeouts. Loser Tom Irwin (3-1) allowed 11 hits in nine innings for OCC (8-8, 1-2).