COMMUNITY COLLEGE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BASEBALL REGIONALS : Fullerton’s Rally Ousts Rancho Santiago

Fullerton College, calling on the past for confidence, rallied Saturday at Riverside to remain in the Southern California Regionals baseball playoffs.

Fullerton came back from a four-run deficit to defeat Rancho Santiago, 13-5. The Hornets (28-15) need to beat Riverside twice today, starting at noon, to advance to next weekend’s state tournament. Riverside had defeated Fullerton, 4-1, earlier Saturday.

The loss eliminates Rancho Santiago (35-12), the Orange Empire Conference champions.

Fullerton was the third-place team and Riverside fourth. Golden West, the second-place team, plays Los Angeles Harbor at Cerritos at 11 a.m. today.

The Hornets had trailed College of the Canyons, 5-1, after three innings last Saturday but went on to win, 9-5.

“We were talking about it on the bench,” Fullerton Coach Nick Fuscardo said. “I wasn’t sure, but we knew they didn’t have anyone that could shut us down. We swing the bats pretty well, so we were confident.”

Fullerton won four of six meetings with Rancho Santiago this season.

Fullerton took a 6-5 lead with five runs in the fifth, but the crushing blow came in the sixth, when Tom Wilson hit a three-run home run off reliever Scott McCorgary.

Benny Rodriguez opened the sixth with a single. One out later, Gary Mota walked, then Jim Short stuck out. Wilson, a freshman, then drove a 2-1 pitch over the right-field fence for his 11th home run. It was also his third in two days.

Fullerton got four more in the eighth, including a two-run homer from Short. It was his 14th, a single-season school record.

Kevin Monson also had a two-run triple in the inning.

Trevor Painton pitched 6 2/3 innings of relief for the victory. Painton (3-3) replaced Matt Lipscomb in the third and allowed three hits and no runs the rest of the way.

“We figured Painton could shut them down for three or four innings,” Fuscardo said. “But he stayed after them really well.”

Rancho Santiago had defeated Moorpark, 5-3, Saturday to get a shot at Fullerton. The Dons figured to be in a good position with Rob Nay pitching. He shut out Mt. San Jacinto last weekend, but he struggled Saturday.

Nay (6-2) allowed a solo home run to Speakman in the first inning, but then didn’t allow a run over the next three innings.

His undoing came in the fifth, despite a 5-1 lead. Nay walked the first two batters then Mota doubled in a run. Short followed with an RBI single, and Wilson had an RBI grounder. McCorgary came in to face Jim Vleck, whose double drive home the tying run.

“Nay just couldn’t get the breaking ball over for a strike,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said.

Fullerton went ahead, 6-5, when McCorgary threw a pickoff attempt into center field.

In other playoff games:

Riverside 4, Fullerton 1--Ben Blomdahl pitched a five-hitter and struck out 12 as Riverside advanced. Fullerton stranded five runners in scoring position over the first six innings, and another in the ninth.

Mota’s single drove in Speakman in the third to give Fullerton a 1-0 lead.

Randy Graves hit into a double play in the sixth, but the tying run scored on the play for Riverside (31-15). Graves had an RBI single in the eighth and Riverside took a 2-1 lead.

Tom Kelly (8-5) allowed three runs in eight-plus innings to take the loss.

Craig Benham and Randy Curtis had RBI singles in the ninth for Riverside.

Rancho Santiago 5, Moorpark 3--Jerry Aschoff (9-3) had 10 strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings for Rancho Santiago. McCorgary got the final out for his sixth save, a school single-season record.

Marty Neff hit his 16th home run in the second to give the Dons a 1-0 lead. It was Neff’s first home run since April 17. Conrad Colby had an RBI groundout, Greg Martineau had an RBI single and Jeff White had an RBI double in the third as Rancho Santiago took a 4-0 lead.

Shaun Sterling drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth for Rancho Santiago. Moorpark (24-14) was eliminated.