OCC and Golden West Face Tough Volleyball Matches

Orange Coast and Golden West play host to key conference men’s volleyball matches Wednesday.

Orange Coast, the defending State champion, plays Los Angeles Pierce at 7 p.m. in a rematch of last season’s State title match.

Orange Coast came from behind in each game and upset Pierce, 16-14, 17-15, 15-13, last year to win the State title.

Orange Coast comes into the match this season with a 9-2 overall record. Pierce is in second place in the South Coast Conference with an 8-1 record.

Orange Coast, Golden West (8-2) and Palomar (7-2) are tied for first in the Orange Empire Conference at 6-2.

Golden West plays host to Long Beach (9-0), the first-place team in the South Coast Conference, at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Matches played by Orange Empire Conference teams against South Coast Conference opponents count on both teams’ conference records.

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Baseball: Cypress continues atop the Orange Empire Conference baseball race.

The Chargers, despite losing two of their last three, are 20-4-1 and 7-2 in conference. Riverside (13-7-1, 5-3) is in second and Orange Coast (12-11, 4-3) third.

Fullerton (19-6, 4-5) and Rancho Santiago (16-7, 4-5) are tied for fourth and Saddleback (10-11, 3-6) and Golden West (9-15, 3-6) are tied for sixth.

Orange Coast tries to make it two in a row over Cypress when the teams meet at 2 p.m. today at Cypress. The Pirates beat the Chargers, 3-1, Saturday behind Mark Gardner (5-1), who pitched a four-hitter. Gardner, a sophomore left-hander, had six strikeouts to raise his conference-leading total to 51.

Saddleback’s Pat Antrim, a shortstop from El Toro High, has a 10-game hitting streak. Antrim is hitting .337 overall. He is 13 for 45 (.289) during the streak which includes all nine conference games.

Antrim’s teammate Sam Voita has passed one major-leaguer and tied another in the Saddleback record books. Voita, from Granada Hills High, has 56 career RBIs for the Gauchos, seventh on the all-time list. Last week, he passed Tim Wallach (1976-77) who had 53. Voita is tied for eighth in doubles with 17. Mark Grace (1983-84) also had 17 at Saddleback.

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Power hitter: Andy Tellez, a freshman outfielder at Fullerton, has emerged as the county’s leading power hitter.

Tellez, from Santa Fe Springs St. Paul High, has as many home runs as he has singles--eight. He also has five doubles. Tellez is hitting .333 with seven walks and six strikeouts. His slugging percentage is a lofty .794.

Tellez drove in nine runs last week, including all five in a 5-4 victory over Cypress. He also had four, including a ninth-inning, game-winning double, in a 7-6 victory over Golden West.

He has driven in 27 runs and scored 19 in 19 games.

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Stuff of legends: Bobby Hamelin reached near-legend status during the 1988 baseball season at Rancho Santiago.

After transferring from UCLA, he hit 31 home runs and drove in 107 runs in 48 games and the Dons finished second at the State tournament.

Near the end of the year, the story goes, after a game a Riverside player approached Hamelin, who went to Irvine High, with two new baseballs.

He asked Hamelin to autograph each and told him he had just collected the first Bobby Hamelin memorabilia.

Hamelin went on to appear on several baseball cards, including one with his name misspelled, while in the minors. His trip to the majors was slowed as he battled back problems. But he was called up to Kansas City last season and went on to be selected as the American League Rookie of the Year.

Now, Hamelin memorabilia is much easier to obtain. Not only is he pictured on several cards, but his likeness is also featured in a four-inch plastic figure.

Notes

Nicole Quinn, a starting forward at Golden West, has made an oral commitment to attend Cal State Stanislaus. Quinn, from Woodbridge High, averaged 10 points and six rebounds a starter. Golden West had a mark of 62-11 in her two seasons. The Rustlers reached the State tournament each time. . .Marlon Watson and Nick Holt were selected the co-most valuable players of the Rancho Santiago men’s basketball team.