COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Rallies, Beats Long Beach in Semifinal

Rancho Santiago College scored six runs in the eighth inning to defeat Long Beach, 11-5, in the championship semifinal of the Rancho Santiago Lidlifter Tournament Saturday in Santa Ana.

The big inning broke a 5-5 tie. Steve Grack and Wayne Hefft each had two hits and two runs batted in, and Seaun Ramos hit his second bases-empty home run in two games for Rancho Santiago (2-0), the defending Orange Empire Conference champions.

Rancho Santiago plays host to Long Beach at 11 a.m. today in the tournament final. If Long Beach wins the first game, a second will be played in the double-elimination format.

Long Beach reached the final by defeating Moorpark, 9-7, in the losers’ bracket elimination game. The game was called after eight innings because of darkness.

In the Cerritos-Fullerton tournament:

Fullerton 6, San Mateo 1--Sophomore Jim Burchit (1-0) pitched a complete game, walking four and striking out eight for host Fullerton (2-0).

Dave Moore’s two-run home run in the fifth, his second homer in as many games, gave Fullerton a 2-1 lead. Fullerton will play host to Riverside at 11:30 a.m. today in a rematch of last season’s Southern California regional final won by Riverside. Both teams are in the Orange Empire Conference. Riverside defeated Cerritos, 7-3, to advance also Saturday.

In the College of the Desert tournament:

Cypress 4, Mt. San Jacinto 3--Kevin Cook had two runs batted in for Cypress. Sean Drinkwater had two hits, and Carlos Castillo (1-0) pitched a complete game with seven strikeouts.

Cypress 7, Chaffee 1--Drinkwater, a sophomore from Texas A&M;, hit a three-run home run to give Cypress (2-1) a 3-0 lead. Kevin Cook added a bases-empty home run in the sixth. Todd Blyleven, a freshman who transferred from Oklahoma, pitched six shutout innings and struck out five for his first victory. Cypress had lost in the opener Friday, 9-7, to host Desert.