COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASEBALL : Belovsky, Hodges Push Cypress Closer to Orange Empire Title

Cypress is within a game of the Orange Empire Conference baseball title largely because of Josh Belovsky’s pitching and Jason Hodges’ hitting.

Belovsky pitched a three-hitter and Hodges hit a home run as the Chargers beat host Rancho Santiago, 1-0, Tuesday. Belovsky, a sophomore right-hander, had beaten Rancho Santiago, 4-0, earlier this season.

The victory keeps Cypress (32-10, 17-5 in conference) one game ahead of Riverside with two left. Cypress has beaten Riverside three of four times this season, so if the teams tie, the Chargers would get the No. 1 seeding into the playoffs.

Belovsky (7-2) got the first two outs in the ninth before walking Matt Kastelic. That brought up Toby Sanchez, who leads the conference with 14 home runs. Kastelic went to second on a wild pitch but Belovsky struck out Sanchez on a breaking pitch in the dirt. The ball bounced off catcher David Trentine and back to Belovsky, who threw to first to end the game.

“I was thinking that I couldn’t give (Sanchez) anything to hit out of the yard,” Belovsky said.

Hodges’ home run opened the seventh and was his 11th of the season.

The loss ended any chance for Rancho Santiago (31-10, 14-8) to win a fifth consecutive conference title.