COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Behnke Helps Fullerton Clinch Playoff Spot by Stopping Orange Coast

Fullerton College, unable to turn to its ace, relied on seldom-used Brian Behnke in its quest for a playoff spot in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Thursday at Orange Coast.

Behnke, a sophomore left-hander who had last pitched April 12, responded with 6 1/3 solid innings and Fullerton defeated OCC, 7-3, to clinch third place in the Orange Empire Conference.

Rancho Santiago won the title, Golden West finished second and Fullerton (23-12 overall, 13-10 in conference) third. All three advance to the Southern California playoffs, which start May 12.

The pairings will be announced Monday. It is the first playoff appearance for Fullerton under Coach Nick Fuscardo, who is in his fifth season.

Behnke got the start because Steve Trachsel, who has an 8-3 record in 84 innings, has a tired arm, Fuscardo said.

Behnke, who had pitched just 10 2/3 innings before Thursday, held OCC to four hits and three runs, two earned, to improve his record to 2-0.

“Behnke has been ready to go,” Fuscardo said. “He had pitched well in game situations in practice. We told him last night and he got himself ready.”

Fullerton used relievers Matt Lipscomb and Mark Dye to finish the game.

OCC had a chance to tie it in the seventh. With the bases loaded and two out, Lipscomb fell behind fourth-place hitter Rod McCall, three balls and no strikes, with Fullerton leading, 4-3.

A ball away from allowing the tying run, Lipscomb got McCall to fly out on a full-count pitch.

Fullerton scored a run in the eighth with the help of an error by OCC starter Tommy Irwin (5-5). Kevin Monson walked and went to third when Irwin threw away a pickoff throw at first. Monson scored on a sacrifice fly by Jim Short to give Fullerton a 5-3 lead.

Willy Speakman and Short had RBI singles in the ninth for Fullerton’s final two runs. Dye pitched the final 1 1/3 innings for his first save.

Jeff Manship, who had two hits and scored a run, hit a two-run home run in the fifth to give Fullerton a 4-1 lead. It was Manship’s seventh home run.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Rancho Santiago 15, Golden West 4--Steve Grack hit his 10th home run, Shaun Sterling had his third and Greg Martineau his fifth as Rancho Santiago had a season-high 22 hits at home.

Shaun Sterling had three hits, scored three runs and drove in three, Conrad Colby had three hits and two RBIs, and Rob Reimers had three hits for Rancho Santiago (32-8, 18-5). Grack had two hits and five RBIs, and Marty Neff, Chris Floth, Jeremy Sherman, Jeff White and Martineau had two hits each for Rancho Santiago. Gerad Cawhorn had two hits for Golden West (25-12-1, 15-9).

Cypress 8, Saddleback 3--Troy Babbitt hit a three-run home run in the first inning and had an RBI single in the third inning to lead Cypress (23-18, 9-14). Terry Tewell had two hits and two RBIs and Jason Bates had two hits and one RBI. Brent Ferguson of Saddleback (13-21, 6-17) had two hits to bring his career total to 94, which put him two ahead of the Montreal Expos’ Tim Wallach, who had 92 for Saddleback in 1976-77. Steve DeAngelis set the record with 121 in 1983-84.

In the state community college swim championships at Mt. San Antonio College, Orange Coast leads the women’s division after the Thursday’s first day and Golden West is the leader in the men’s division. Orange Coast’s Alexa Reetz won the 500-yard freestyle in 5 minutes 5.38 seconds to lead the Orange Coast women. Golden West’s Chris Clarke won the 50 freestyle (20.82) and was on two winning relays, the 200 freestyle relay and the 400 medley relay. In the 200, Golden West set a national community college record with a time of 1:23.27. Indian River of Florida set the record earlier this year (1:25.27).