COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Thobe Pitches Rancho Santiago Past Saddleback

J.J. Thobe, who dominated last season as a reliever, is doing the same as a starter for Rancho Santiago this season.

Thobe, a sophomore right-hander, pitched an eight-hitter Saturday as Rancho Santiago defeated Saddleback, 7-4, in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game in Santa Ana.

Thobe improved to 5-1. He struck out eight, walked one and hit two.

He set a Rancho Santiago single-season and career record with 11 saves last season, while recovering from shoulder surgery that limited the number of pitches he could throw. This season, he is fully recovered.

Thobe was most impressive toward the end of Saturday’s game, as he was last season. He retired the final 11 batters, five on strikeouts.

Rancho Santiago scored twice in the fourth to take a 6-1 lead. Saddleback got one in the fifth and two in the sixth, when Thobe looked on the verge of being knocked out.

Ryan Relph lined a single to right and Chris Sauritch tripled to the fence in right-center field to start the sixth. Thobe got a ground out, but Robert Garcia doubled up the alley in right-center, scoring Sauritch and cutting Rancho Santiago’s lead to 6-4.

Thobe came back to get Matt Maffei and Mike Lavin on strikeouts to end the inning.

“I really don’t know what happened in the middle innings,” Thobe said. “But the last three innings were like, ‘Let’s go, here it is, hit it.’ ”

Aaron Butler had three hits and three runs batted in for first-place Rancho Santiago (16-7-1, 9-3-1 in conference). Butler had RBI singles in the first and seventh and a home run in the third.

The teams meet again Tuesday at Saddleback, first at 1 p.m to complete a suspended game then at 2:30 p.m. in a regularly scheduled contest.

The games are crucial to both teams, but especially for Saddleback (11-10-1, 7-7-1). The Gauchos won their first five conference games, but now are in danger of falling back into the pack.

Riverside (16-7, 9-4) is in second and Saddleback in third, with three teams within 1 1/2 games of the Gauchos.

In other conference games:

Orange Coast 6, Golden West 4--Daniel Hernandez had three hits and scored two runs and Justin Halper had two hits and two RBIs for visiting Orange Coast (12-8, 6-7). Golden West is 11-12-1, 4-9.

Riverside 8, Cypress 7 (10 innings)--Cypress’ David Newhan hit a grand slam in the eighth to give the host Chargers a 7-6 lead. But Riverside (18-7, 9-4) got a run in the ninth to tie it and one in the 10th on a one-out single by David Renteria to win it.

Riverside led, 6-0, going into the bottom of the fifth, but Cypress (17-12, 6-9) got one in the fifth and two in the seventh before Newhan hit his grand slam.