COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Zuniga’s RBIs Help Dons Top Orange Coast

Tony Zuniga drove in three runs and Brian Martineau pitched a three-hitter as Rancho Santiago beat Orange Coast, 6-2, in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Thursday in Santa Ana.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for Rancho Santiago (20-8, 8-6), which also has won six of its last eight conference games. The Dons are two games behind first-place Cypress and the teams start a home-and-home series at Santa Ana Saturday at noon.

Orange Coast (15-13, 7-5) is also two games out of first place.

Zuniga had a two-run double as Rancho Santiago scored three times in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth inning, OCC’s Robert Caton had a triple and scored on a groundout and another run scored on an error.

David Mallas drove in a run with a triple to left center and Zuniga followed with a run-scoring single to right in the eighth for Rancho Santiago against Mark Gardner (6-2), who pitched eight innings but took the loss.

Martineau, a sophomore right-hander, had five strikeouts as he improved to 5-1.

“We’re finally hitting the ball a little,” Rancho Santiago Coach Don Sneddon said. “That was a big win for us . . . Martineau had his rhythm from the start. He has a made an adjustment recently and using his legs more so he wasn’t tired at the end.”