COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Higbee’s Home Run Helps Rancho Santiago Advance

Rancho Santiago quickly went from struggling to leading Saturday and then went on to beat Palomar, 5-4, in Santa Ana and advance in the Southern California baseball regionals.

The Dons trailed, 4-3, with two outs and no one on in the seventh inning.

But Jeff Higbee started the quick turn-around with what Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon would later call the best at-bat of the year.

With the count full, Higbee fouled off nine pitches before lining a home run over the left-field fence off Chris Adams (6-3), who took the loss. It was Higbee’s first home run of the season.

“They had been pitching me inside the whole game,” Higbee said. “I was thinking there was no way he was going to beat me and eventually he threw it out over the plate.”

Tony Truel followed with a walk and stole second. Robin Lindsey then grounded a two-strike fastball up the middle to drive in Truel, giving Rancho Santiago a 5-4 lead.

From there, it fell to starter J.J. Thobe, who overcame a shaky start and finished well. Thobe (9-3) gave up runs in the first three innings but his teammates rallied.

Chris Lugo hit a two-run home run in the fourth to cut the lead to 3-2. His hit was only the second of the game for the Dons, who finished with seven hits.

Rancho Santiago (28-12) tied it, 3-3, in the sixth when Lindsey bunted for a hit, went to second on a throwing error, third on a fly out and scored on a ground out by David Gonzalez.

Palomar’s Tom Afenir homered on the first pitch of the sixth as Palomar, the designated home team, took a 4-3 lead.

But that was the last chance the Comets (21-17-1) had against Thobe, who retired 10 of the last 11 he faced, including six on strikeouts. He struck out Chris Chavez for what should have been the final out of the game, but the ball got away from catcher Lindsey and Chavez reached first. But Thobe caught Chris Hancock looking on a full count to end the game. He gave up six hits and struck out 10.

“(Thobe) had a blood blister on his finger,” Sneddon said, “but he didn’t want to come out. It was another good effort on his part.”

Rancho Santiago, which had beaten Palomar, 17-2, Friday in the best-of-three series, advances to play Mt. San Antonio at 11 a.m. Friday at L.A. Pierce. Riverside plays host to Pierce at 2 p.m. in the other game in the double-elimination regional.

In another regional game:

Los Angeles Harbor 14-6, Fullerton 5-5--Host L.A. Harbor (35-10) swept after Fullerton won Friday’s game, 12-6. Fullerton rallied for three runs in the eighth inning of the second game to cut the lead to 6-5. The Hornets end the season 20-19-1.