COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Valencia’s Grand Slam Leads Orange Coast

Nick Valencia hit a fourth-inning grand slam to help Orange Coast to an 11-1 victory over Southwestern in the opening round of the Southwestern tournament Thursday.

Orange Coast (3-1) dedicated the game to the memory of Michael Copp, the college’s sports academic adviser who died Feb. 3 of a heart attack.

Ryan Sunderman, Scott MacDermott, Chris Yakura and Valencia each had two hits for OCC. Yakura was two for two and is six for six in his last two games.

In another Southwestern tournament game:

Rancho Santiago 10, Grossmont 4--Host Rancho Santiago, the defending State champion, scored five runs in the third inning to take a 7-0 lead.

Mike Bellovich and Daryle Ward had doubles for Rancho Santiago (3-1), which started the season as the top-ranked team in the nation by Baseball America.

Ethan Wyckoff (1-0) pitched the first six innings for the victory.