FREEWAY LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Fullerton’s Olsen Hits Record 13th Homer

Catcher D.C. Olsen of Fullerton High School hit his 13th home run to set an Orange County single-season record in Fullerton’s 6-1 Freeway League victory over host Troy Thursday.

The junior hit a three-run homer over the left-center field fence off Troy starter Robbie Williams to break Andy Ruscitto’s mark of 12, set in 1986 for Valencia.

Olsen, who had gone four games without a homer, now has 18 home runs in his high school career and is four shy of the county career mark of 22. That was set by Ruscitto from 1984-86 and tied by Lance Marks of Dana Hills this season.

“I was so relieved when I saw the ball go out,” Olsen said. “I’ve been really pressing the last two weeks, but I found out you can’t hit a homer whenever you want, so I just came in today relaxed and looked to hit the ball hard.”

Olsen’s record was soon in jeopardy because teammate Bobby Patel had two homers through five innings, giving him 12 for the season. But Patel struck out in his final at-bat.

“I was really pulling for Bobby to tie me,” Olsen said. “It would have been great for both of us to share a record like that in the same season.”

Olsen’s homer was his only hit of the game and left him one hit shy of the county’s single-season record of 51 set in 1985 by Los Alamitos’ Robbie Katzaroff.

Olsen claimed the county’s best-ever season batting average, finishing at .595. Steve Evans of Anaheim set the old mark of .585 in 1980.

Nearly lost in the record-setting was the two-hit pitching of Fullerton’s Rene Arias. Arias (8-3) allowed only a double to the first hitter he faced, Steve Freidrich, and a fourth-inning leadoff homer to Matt Carter.

Fullerton (13-12 overall, 7-8 in league play) stopped Troy’s 10-game winning streak, but Troy (14-9, 11-4) had previously clinched the league title.

In another Freeway League game:

Sunny Hills 10, Sonora 1--Chris Looney pitched a five-hitter, striking out nine, to lead Sunny Hills (15-11, 10-5) at Sonora (12-12, 7-8). Jason Sugarman had three hits, including a two-run home run in the sixth inning, and Kenny Overby had two hits, including a two-run home run in the seventh inning. Steve Ashton had three hits, scored twice and had one RBI for Sunny Hills.