Fullerton Hopes to Smash Its Way Into the Playoffs

Just before the baseball season started, Fullerton Coach Nick Fuscardo said that playing in the Orange Empire Conference was like getting up every morning and smashing your toe into a door.

So far, he has been right.

In the Orange Empire Conference, fourth-place Fullerton is 8-8. But overall, the Hornets are 25-10-1.

After a week’s break from conference play, Fullerton returns with a home-and-home series against Orange Coast (19-16, 9-7), which is one game ahead of the Hornets in the fight for third place and an automatic playoff berth. The fourth-place and even the fifth-place teams have chances at wild-card berths.

The teams play today at Orange Coast, Thursday at Fullerton. Both games start at 2:30 p.m. Fullerton starts the final round Saturday at noon against visiting Cypress.

Andy Tellez is Fullerton’s offensive leader. He is hitting .389, has a conference-best 14 home runs and has driven in 46 runs. His slugging percentage is .843.

Dan Bergmann leads Fullerton in hitting at .412. Bergmann is the ultimate utility man. He has played first base, designated hitter, center and left field and pitched as a starter and a reliever. He is batting .500 (28 for 56) during his current 14-game hitting streak.

Poncho Ruiz, a sophomore shortstop, has a 10-game hitting streak for Fullerton. He is batting .349.

“We didn’t put anymore pressure on the kids for this week’s games,” Fuscardo said. “We’ve made some changes that have made the infield really solid. . . . Realistically, we need to win four games to made the playoffs. But if we win six, then we have a chance to get seeded in the first eight and be home for the first round.”

Orange Coast struggled early partly because of injuries but has benefited greatly by the return of first baseman Nick Valencia.

He missed the first 18 games because of a broken finger on his throwing hand, but has been impressive since returning.

Valencia is hitting .324 with six home runs and 20 RBIs in 17 games. Todd Kehrli, the designated hitter, has raised his average to .280 and has three home runs and 24 runs batted in. He had two home runs, including a grand slam, March 11 in an 8-6 victory over Fullerton. Orange Coast’s top pitchers are Mark Gardner (6-3), Hector Blanchet (4-4) and Tom Cerasuolo (4-2). Gardner has 77 strikeouts in 83 innings and an earned-run average of 3.58.

*

More baseball: Cypress, the defending State champion, remains in first place by percentage points. The Chargers (26-9, 11-5) lead second-place Rancho Santiago (27-9, 12-6), which has conference byes today and Thursday.

Cypress plays host to fifth-place Saddleback (16-14, 7-9) today then travels to Saddleback Thursday. Golden West (11-24, 3-13) is at Riverside (18-15-1, 7-9) today and then Thursday plays host to the Tigers.

*

Softball showdown: Cypress (39-6, 14-1) holds a one-game lead over Rancho Santiago (23-10, 13-2) and the teams meet for the final time in conference at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Rancho Santiago.

The teams have split two conference games so far. Rancho Santiago rallied for two runs in the seventh against Deborah Goddu for a 2-1 victory in the second conference game, March 2. But the Chargers won, 2-0, in the March 24 meeting, in which Goddu retired the final 13.

But the Chargers are hardly a one-pitcher team. Goddu, Jenny Lopez and Heidi Schmidt each has a 13-2 record.

Cypress has won 13 in a row in conference and 29 of the last 31 overall. Eleven of the 13 conference victories have been by shutout.

Fullerton (22-10, 10-5) is in third, Saddleback (19-11, 7-8) fourth, Orange Coast (10-17, 6-9) fifth, Riverside (7-21, 5-10) sixth, Irvine Valley (5-25, 3-12) seventh, and Golden West (5-23, 2-13) eighth.

*

Men’s volleyball: Palomar (12-3, 11-3) holds a one-match lead over Golden West (12-4, 10-4) with three matches left.

Orange Coast (13-6, 9-5) is in third, holding onto the final playoff spot. OCC leads Irvine Valley (8-6, 8-6) and Grossmont (9-6, 8-6) by a match but plays both schools this week.

Irvine Valley is at OCC at 7 p.m. Wednesday and OCC plays host to Grossmont Friday at the same time.

The Southern California playoffs are May 1 at a site to be determined and the State tournament is May 5-6 at Irvine Valley College.

Notes

Johnny France of Saddleback is the top seeded men’s player and Fullerton’s Debbie Vonusa is the No. 1 seeded women’s player in the Orange Empire Conference tennis tournaments, which start today. The men’s tournament is today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Irvine Valley. The women play today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Coto de Caza.

Brian Ricketts of Cypress is the top Orange Empire Conference golfer with a 72.3-stroke average. Andrew Wen (73) of Palomar is second, Chris Ny (74.1) of OCC is third and Saddleback’s Mike Gartner (74.3) is fourth. Saddleback, the defending State champion, is in first place and Cypress is second.

Orange Coast linebacker Travis McCullough plans to walk on at Arizona State. McCullough, bothered by an early season back injury, led OCC with 109 tackles and had 211 in two years. . . . Shortstop America Robledo has left the Orange Coast softball team. Robledo, also a standout basketball player, was hitting .200 for OCC.