COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Five-Run Ninth Inning Pushes Rancho Santiago to 13-7 Victory

Rancho Santiago, which had appeared to knock Golden West out of the game twice, finally did it with a five-run ninth inning in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Thursday in Huntington Beach.

The Dons beat the Rustlers, 13-7, to increase their lead to 2 1/2 games over second-place Golden West.

Rancho Santiago (22-3, 8-0 in conference) led, 5-1, but Golden West scored three in the sixth inning.

Golden West (10-9, 5-2) fell behind, 8-4, but got three more in the eighth.

Rancho Santiago’s game-clinching rally started amid controversy. The Dons’ Jeremy Sherman appeared to start the inning with a groundout to first off the end of the bat, but the base umpire ruled the ball had hit Sherman in the batter’s box and was a foul ball.

Sherman then was hit by a pitch and eventually scored on a single by John Rodriguez to give the Dons a 9-7 lead.

Raul Rodarte had a sacrifice fly for the second run and Mark Wasikowski’s single made it 11-7.

Sean Ramos capped the inning with a two-run triple and Rancho Santiago led, 13-7.

J.J. Thobe allowed a double to Jason Brissey to start the ninth, then walked Ben Mendoza. Thobe retired the next three hitters to end the game.

Rancho Santiago scored single runs in the second, fourth and fifth and two more in the sixth to take a 5-1 lead that looked safe behind starter and winner Jesse Rosas (4-0).

But Golden West’s Gerad Cawhorn slammed a two-out, three-run home run off Rosas in the sixth to cut the lead to 5-4.

Rancho Santiago came back in the seventh on an RBI single by Robin Lindsey and a sacrifice fly by Sherman to take a 7-4 lead. Rodarte, Wasikowski and Ramos had consecutive two-out singles as the Dons took an 8-4 lead in the seventh.