COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Wilson’s Grand Slam in Ninth Gives Fullerton a 15-14 Victory

Tom Wilson hit a grand slam to cap a six-run ninth inning and give Fullerton a 15-14 victory over Golden West in a wild Orange Empire Conference game Thursday in Fullerton.

Golden West led, 7-0, after two innings and, 9-4, going into the bottom of the eighth. But Fullerton scored five times to tie it, 9-9, only to have Golden West rally for five in the top of the ninth to take a 14-9 lead.

Reliever Mark Murphy of Golden West got the first out in the ninth, but a single, walk and an error loaded the bases. Ramon Apodaca singled in one run and walked Frank Sarver to force home another.

Murphy was replaced by Sean Patterson, who fell behind Wilson, three balls and a strike, before giving up the homer over the left-field fence. Patterson (1-4) took the loss for Golden West (14-21, 9-14 in conference). Rob Aldrich (1-0) got the victory.

It was the 14th home run of the season for Wilson, which ties him with Jim Short (1990) for the single-season school record. Wilson is the career leader with 25.

“I just had a feeling I could do it,” Wilson said. “Chris Johnson (who was on deck) told me to get a base hit, then he could win it, but I told him, ‘You aren’t going to see the plate.’ ”

The victory clinches fourth place for Fullerton (25-17, 11-12), which has a solid chance at a playoff spot when the pairings are announced Monday.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Saddleback 8, Orange Coast 2--Mark Wells had two singles in a six-run fifth inning to put host Saddleback ahead, 7-0. Mike Robertson and Brad Porter had three hits each for Saddleback (15-23, 7-16) and Pat Norville (2-2) earned the victory after allowing five hits, four walks and one earned run while striking out four in 7 1/3 innings. Mike Burns had a run-batted-in double in the sixth inning for Orange Coast, which finished 24-18-1, 9-15.

Riverside 5, Rancho Santiago 4--Rancho Santiago scored twice in the first and third innings to take a 4-0 lead. Mark Wasikowski and Sean Ramos hit consecutive home runs in the third inning for Rancho Santiago (36-9, 17-6). Riverside scored twice in the fourth, once in the fifth and twice in the eighth. Gary Adcock struck out eight for Riverside.

At the State Swimming Championships--After the first day of a three-day competition Thursday at DeAnza, Orange Coast took the lead in both the men’s and women’s fields by scoring 169 points in the men’s division and 117 points in women’s division. Orange Coast’s closest competitors were Foothill (113.5 points) in the men’s field, and Golden West (72 points) in the women’s field.