Everybody’s Taking Turns Pitching In at Rancho Santiago

Coach Don Sneddon looked at the Orange Empire Conference baseball statistics Monday and quickly found the reason his Rancho Santiago team has a three-game lead after just eight games.

Pitching.

The Dons have a team earned-run average of 1.64 in conference play (2.91 overall), while the next best is Riverside’s 4.28. The other five conference teams are at 5.24 or higher.

“If ever there was a stat that is more glaring and more obvious as to why a team is in first, this is it,” Sneddon said.

Rancho Santiago is 22-3, 8-0 in conference. Golden West (10-10, 5-3) is second, followed by Cypress (15-7, 5-4), Riverside (18-7, 4-4), Fullerton 16-11, 3-6), Saddleback (9-11, 3-6) and Orange Coast (13-10-1, 2-7).

The pitching numbers are even more amazing in light of the fact that Jay Hassel, who was expected to Rancho Santiago’s ace, has pitched only two innings this season, none in conference competition. Hassel, a sophomore right-hander who was 6-2 last season, had a strong fall but began having elbow problems in January.

Another sophomore right-hander, Paul O’Hearn, leads the Dons with a 6-0 record and a 1.30 ERA. He is 3-0 with a 0.37 ERA in conference.

Jesse Rosas and David Goldstein are each 2-0 in conference. Goldstein has a 1.89 ERA and Rosas’ is 2.40.

Sophomore reliever Scott McCorgary is 1-0 with two saves and a 2.62 ERA in conference. He has four saves this season and a Rancho Santiago career record of 10.

J.J. Thobe, a freshman right-hander, is coming off arm surgery but has also been effective. He is 0-0 with two saves and a 2.50 ERA in conference. He is 1-0 with three saves and a 0.90 ERA overall.

“We’re not doing anything fancy,” Sneddon said, “but I hope it continues.”

The California Coaches’ Assn. gave out its yearly awards for last season last weekend and Orange County was well represented.

Three Golden West coaches were honored--Ken Hamdorf (water polo), Dick Stricklin (women’s basketball) and Albert Gasparian (women’s volleyball).

Hamdorf and Stricklin have won back-to-back state titles and Gasparian, who was also selected the nation’s top community college women’s coach by Volleyball Monthly, has won two of the last three state titles.

The men’s volleyball coaching award went to Bob Wetzel of Orange Coast. Wetzel’s teams have won two consecutive state titles and three of the last four.

Saddleback’s Bill Otta won for men’s tennis. The Gauchos have won three consecutive state titles and nine of the the last 11 Southern California Regionals.

Saddleback has currently won 31 consecutive matches.

The Orange Coast men’s and women’s swimming programs pulled an impressive double victory Saturday in the Cuesta Invitational, the biggest meet before the state championships.

OCC women’s team, a power since 1984, took first place with 521 3/4 points. Golden West (405) was second and and Cuesta (395) third.

“Any of those three could win the state title,” OCC Coach Don Watson said.

The OCC women have won 72 consecutive dual meets and six of the last seven state titles, including two in a row.

The OCC men’s team was even more impressive, scoring 787 1/2 points. Diablo Valley (408 1/2) was second and Golden West (368), the defending state champions, third.

OCC has not won a men’s state swimming title.

The state championships are May 2-4 at De Anza College in Cupertino.

Cypress has taken the early lead in the softball race. The Chargers (22-8, 5-0) have a 1 1/2-game lead over Fullerton (7-12, 4-2).

Orange Coast (16-10, 3-2) is third, followed by Riverside (7-4, 2-2), Golden West (9-8, 2-3), Saddleback (3-8, 1-3) and Rancho Santiago (4-9, 0-5).