COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Riverside Upends Rancho Santiago in Baseball

Gary Adcock pitched his 10th complete game in 11 starts for Riverside as the Tigers defeated Rancho Santiago, 6-4, in an Orange Empire Conference game Tuesday at Riverside.

Adcock (7-3) needed 157 pitches to subdue the first-place Dons (31-7, 13-4 in conference).

Adcock, who has pitched 102 innings, struck out 12 and walked three. The Dons got two-out singles from Raul Rodarte and Mark Wasikowski in the ninth, but pinch-hitter Tom Mendoza struck out on a full count to end the game.

“He’s not going to get any taller,” Riverside Coach Dennis Rogers said about the 5-foot-8 Adcock. “But his heart gets bigger each time he goes out there.”

The victory moves Riverside (24-10, 10-7) into a second-place tie with idle Cypress. Both trail defending-champion Rancho Santiago by three games with seven to play.

“It’s going to be a battle the rest of the way,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “But we knew it would be.”

Rancho Santiago was encouraged by the pitching of sophomore right-hander Jay Hassel. Hassel, who was 6-2 last season, was projected to be the ace this season. But a sore elbow had limited him to 6 1/3 inning in three games before Tuesday.

Hassel (2-1) allowed 10 hits and six runs in 7 1/3 innings, but four of the runs came with two outs.

“The real test will be to see how he feels tomorrow (Wednesday),” Sneddon said.

Riverside scored two runs in the first, but Rancho Santiago tied it in the third when Sean Ramos hit a two-run home run.

Hassel retired the first two batters in the fourth but allowed a single to Curt Callicott. Matt McElreath then drove the ball into the right-field corner to score Callicott.

McElreath headed for third but when the relay throw was slow coming to the base, Rogers waved McElreath home where he was safe on a call that could have gone either way.

Ramos had a run batted in double to cut it to 4-3 in the fifth, but Randy Curtis had a run-scoring single in the seventh and Riverside led, 5-3.

Pinch-hitter Rene Arias had an RBI single for Rancho Santiago in the eighth as Dons again cut the lead to a run, 5-4.

Riverside answered again in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Larry Stahlhoefer to put the Tigers ahead, 6-4.

In other Orange Empire Conference baseball:

Fullerton 4, Golden West 3--With two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Fullerton’s Frank Sarver singled home Dave Moore, who had singled and stolen second and third, with the winning run.

Orange Coast 7, Saddleback 4--Greg Fife hit a grand slam to highlight a five-run third inning that gave host Orange Coast (23-13-1, 8-10) a 5-1 lead. In nonconference baseball:

Cypress 14, Mira Costa 3--Doug McConathy had two hits and three RBIs and Abaijah Alastra had three hits and two RBIs for visiting Cypress (25-10).

In Orange Empire Conference men’s tennis:

Saddleback 9, Rancho Santiago 0--Scott Hansen, the third-ranked singles player in the state, defeated Glen Sorrells, 6-2, 6-0, in No. 1 singles, then teamed with Max Alvarez to defeat Sorrells and Frank Eman, 6-2, 6-1, in No. 1 doubles for visiting Saddleback (16-1, 11-0).

In nonconference softball:

Cypress 4, Moorpark 2--Sixth-ranked Cypress (31-10) upset fifth-ranked Moorpark (21-6) behind the four-hit pitching of Corson Laura (19-7). Priscilla Sarmiento had a two-run triple to highlight a three-run fourth inning.