Cypress Rallies, Clinches Tie for Championship
Cypress home runs made it a close game, but the deciding blow was a bunt when the host Chargers scored three runs in the ninth inning to beat Rancho Santiago, 11-10, in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Thursday.
Cypress (31-15, 16-5) clinched at least a tie for the conference title with the victory. The Chargers are 3 1/2 games ahead of Rancho Santiago (28-10) and Saddleback. Both are 12-8 in conference.
Rancho Santiago held a 10-8 lead in the ninth, but Greg Jacobs singled to left and Junior Rodriguez then had an infield single, which was followed by a throwing error that allowed the runners to move to second and third.
Jeremy Booth was given an intentional walk to load the bases. Booth had two home runs, his sixth and seventh, a double and drove in four runs in his first three at-bats.
Steve Hindman lined to left for the first out but Cypress then scored a run on a wild pitch to cut the lead to 10-9.
Zuniga (2-3), who took the loss, fell behind Matt Roman, three balls and no strikes and was replaced by Matt Ward, the Dons’ fifth pitcher.
After a called strike, Roman bunted back to Ward on a squeeze play.
Ward’s throw to the plate was late and over the head of catcher Sean McMahon, allowing Rodriguez to score the tying run from third and pinch-runner Jason Hoffman to score the winning run from second.
The rally capped a day of comebacks for Cypress.
The Chargers were down, 2-0, and 5-2, before tying the score, 5-5. But Rancho Santiago moved ahead, 9-5, in the seventh on a run-scoring single by Erik Sobek and a towering three-run homer by Mike Brambilla.
Sobek had four hits, including his fifth home run, and drove in three. Brambilla had a homer, a double and drove in four.
Rancho Santiago’s Brent Howes added three singles.
Rodriguez had his fourth homer and Hindman hit a two-run pinch-hit homer also for Cypress. Keith Ginter pitched a scoreless 1 1/3 innings for the victory. He is 6-2.
In another conference game:
Golden West 9, Saddleback 8--Golden West held on despite a five-run fifth inning by Saddleback (23-12-1, 12-8). The Rustlers (15-21, 6-15) took a 9-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth before the Gauchos’ rally. Luke Fox had three hits and scored four runs for Golden West. Charlie Tuggle added three hits and three runs and Todd Vorell had a home run, triple and a single, for five RBIs.