COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL : Rancho Santiago Makes Its Move

Rancho Santiago College moved into a first-place tie in the Orange Empire Conference with a 5-3 baseball victory over Golden West Saturday at Rancho Santiago.

The Dons (19-5, 8-3 in conference) are tied with Riverside (19-6, 8-3), which had a bye Saturday.

Greg Martineau hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning to give Rancho Santiago a 3-0 lead. But Golden West tied it on a three-run home run by pinch-hitter Josh Bammer in the fifth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Steve Grack hit a double, advanced to third on an error and scored on Jeremy Sherman’s single to give Rancho Santiago a 4-3 lead.

Sherman added an RBI double in the seventh for Rancho Santiago’s final run.

Rob Nay (3-1) got the victory, working 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief. Matt Lackie earned his second save, allowing one hit in the final 1 1/3 innings.

James Marquez (4-2) allowed five runs in six-plus innings to take the loss for Golden West (16-6, 7-5).