COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Riverside Gets the Last Blast, Tops Saddleback

What started out as a Saddleback offensive celebration ended up as an impressive comeback for Riverside, which beat the Gauchos, 20-12, in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Saturday at Mission Viejo.

Saddleback scored nine runs in the first inning, capped by Wade Jackson’s grand slam. Sam Voita had a two-run home run earlier in the inning. The Gauchos got two more runs in the third and another in the fourth and were comfortably ahead, 12-3.

But Riverside started back with five in the fifth, including Peter Jenkins’ grand slam. The home run chased starter Craig Ainsworth. It was the first start of the season for Ainsworth, who had shoulder surgery in January. He had nine strikeouts but walked four, including three in the fifth, before Jenkins’ homer, which came on a three-and-two pitch.

Riverside took the lead in the seventh. Diego Rodriguez had a two-run triple to tie it, 12-12. He scored on Dennis Konrady’s RBI single.

Riverside finished with 20 hits, including five doubles, a triple and four home runs.

Besides Jenkins’ grand slam, Konrady hit a two-run home run in the third, Steve Hagen homered in the sixth and Mel Motley hit a two-run home run in the eighth. Motley entered in the seventh and finished with three hits and drove in five runs.

Jackson had three hits and drove in five runs and Ted Wilkes and Voita had two hits and drove in two runs for Saddleback. Lorne Rosas had three hits for the Gauchos.

Riverside (27-8) is 14-5 in conference and in first place by a half-game over Cypress, which had a bye Saturday. The teams meet Tuesday at 2:30 at Cypress. Saddleback is 20-12-1, 10-9.

Golden West 4, Fullerton 2--Phil Ruhl scored in the eighth on a single by Garrett Vitale to break a 2-2 tie for visiting Golden West (15-17, 8-11), which won its second consecutive game. It was the fourth consecutive loss for Fullerton (16-17-1, 7-12), which fell to sixth place.

Rancho Santiago 15, Orange Coast 8--Jason Minici was three for four with four runs batted in and a three-run homer in the seventh that gave Rancho Santiago the lead for good. Jaime Estrada and Daryle Ward also homered for the Dons, who improved to 29-9 and 12-7 in conference. Mando Fanseca was three for five with a double and two runs scored for Orange Coast, which drops to 8-25 and 2-17.

In a nonconference softball game:

Cypress 3, Palomar 2 (10)--Cypress scored the winning run with one out on a fielding error on a ball hit by Alison Murphy. It was the ninth consecutive victory for the Chargers (37-14), who lost to Palomar in the State title game last season. Cypress got two in the seventh on a two-out single by Briana Yoshina.

It was the 298th victory for Cypress Coach Brad Picker. He has a mark of 291-119 and is in his eighth season.

In the Ojai tennis tournament:

Saddleback’s Steen Lundblad and Erik Berg lose in quarterfinals--Lundblad and Berg won their first match, 6-2, 6-2, then fell in their second match, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. Jeremy Driscoll and Tim Morstad lost in their opening match of the quarterfinals, 6-1, 6-0.