COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Wins on Hit in 10th

Freshman Shaun Sterling’s run-scoring single in the 10th inning gave Rancho Santiago College a 5-4 victory over Orange Coast Saturday, and the Dons clinched at least a tie for the Orange Empire Conference title.

Rancho Santiago (31-8, 17-5 in conference) leads second-place Golden West by two games with two remaining. Golden West defeated Cypress, 11-2, Saturday.

Sterling’s hit, his second RBI single of the game, ended a frustrating game for both teams.

Rancho Santiago had 15 hits and Orange Coast committed four errors, but the Dons had enough base-running mistakes to keep it close.

Rancho Santiago missed a scoring opportunity in the eighth, when Rob Reimers walked to open the inning and Greg Martineau was hit by a pitch.

Reimers was caught off second base and tagged in a rundown for the first out. Sterling grounded into a force play for the second out, but the inning was kept alive when Jeremy Sherman reached base on a fielding error.

Sterling took third on a passed ball, but Sherman was picked off first to end the inning.

“We’ve lived and we’ve died by our baserunning all season,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “Today we died a couple deaths out there.”

Sterling’s single in the second gave Rancho Santiago a 1-0 lead. Sid Maldonado’s two-run double in the fourth put OCC ahead, 2-1.

Steve Grack had an RBI double and Chris Floth an RBI single in the fifth to give Rancho Santiago a 3-2 lead.

OCC went ahead, 4-3, on four consecutive singles in the sixth. Mike Burns and Kevin Schula had the final two for RBIs.

Rancho Santiago tied it in the seventh on an RBI double by Marty Neff.

Both sides went down in order in the ninth, but OCC had a chance to go ahead in the 10th. Mark Dodd had a two-out double and Maldonado was intentionally walked. Both moved up a base when Rancho Santiago starter Rob Nay balked.

But Nay got Burns to ground out on an outstanding play by third baseman Greg Martineau for the third out.

Floth started Rancho Santiago’s half of the 10th inning with a double that was a foot shy of going over the right-field fence. Pinch-hitter Jeff White was walked intentionally, and OCC starter Tom Irwin was replaced by John Stuart.

Stuart walked Martineau intentionally to bring up Sterling, who got the game-winning hit.

Nay (5-1) allowed 10 hits in 10 innings but earned the victory with the help of three double plays. Irwin (5-4) took the loss for OCC (15-19, 8-13).

Rancho Santiago, with a bye on Tuesday, needs one victory--Thursday over Golden West or Saturday over Fullerton--to win the conference championship.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Golden West 11, Cypress 2--Todd Long (7-2) pitched a seven-hitter with no walks for host Golden West (25-10, 15-7). Freshman third baseman Gerad Cawhorn had three hits, including a three-run double in the eighth, and a triple, for Golden West. The Rustlers scored five runs in the eighth to take an 11-2 lead. Mark Magrann added three hits and two RBIs for Golden West, which plays Orange Coast on Tuesday. Cypress is 22-17, 8-13.

Riverside 11, Fullerton 6--Riverside scored five unearned runs in the ninth to break a 6-6 tie at Fullerton. Randy Beasley had a two-out, two-run single after an error gave Riverside an 8-6 lead. The victory moves the Tigers (26-14, 11-11) to within a half-game of third-place Fullerton. The top three teams are assured of playoff berths.

Jim Short had an RBI double to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. Dave Weckerle had two hits and two RBIs and Kevin Monson had two hits for Fullerton (21-13, 11-10).

ORANGE EMPIRE

Conf. Overall College W L T W L T Rancho Santiago 17 5 0 31 8 0 Golden West 15 7 0 25 10 1 Fullerton 11 10 0 21 13 0 Riverside 11 11 0 26 14 0 Cypress 8 13 0 22 17 0 Orange Coast 8 13 0 15 19 0 Saddleback 5 16 0 11 20 0