Rancho Santiago Wins Coach’s 500th

Rancho Santiago baseball Coach Don Sneddon, an expert in keeping things in perspective, was at his best Friday after the Dons beat Cerritos, 8-2, in a regional game at Citrus College in Glendora.

It was the 500th victory for Sneddon, who is in his 15th season at Rancho Santiago.

“The win is what’s important,” said Sneddon, whose career mark is 500-166. “The 500 is just a reflection of the talented players and [assistant] coaches we’ve had.”

Freshman pitcher Matt Ward was the difference for Rancho Santiago (34-12), the defending state champion. He gave up nine singles, and walked one in pitching his second consecutive complete game in the playoffs. Ward needed only 97 pitches and got 14 ground ball outs.

Ward struggled early, giving up four hits and run in the second and a run and two hits in the third, while adjusting to the unusually steep mound.

“It’s really hard to describe the mound,” Ward said. “I just made an adjustment and starting getting my first pitch over. They take the first pitch a lot so I was able to work ahead.”

Once acclimated, Ward, a left-hander, gave up three singles and faced only 20 batters in the final six innings.

“He’s really come on lately,” Sneddon said. “Against a team like Cerritos that likes to manufacture runs, he took them out of their game by throwing strikes.”

Rancho Santiago’s offense also needed some time to adjust, but the Dons came up with four runs in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead and added three more in the sixth.

Brent Howes, the hottest Rancho Santiago hitter, had a two-run single in the fifth to tie it, 2-2. He had three hits in five at-bats and is 12 for 20 in four playoff games.

Erik Sobek had a two-run single in the sixth and added another run-scoring single in the eighth.

Ryan Fullerton walked twice with the bases loaded for Rancho Santiago.

Brandon Hendrikx (8-0) is is the scheduled starter when Rancho Santiago plays host to Citrus at 11 a.m. today.

In other playoff games:

Saddleback 5, Mt. San Antonio 4 (10)--Paul Day, upset at his team’s failure to win in the ninth inning, hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th to give Saddleback the victory at Cypress.

Day’s fly ball capped an afternoon of comebacks for Saddleback, which trailed, 2-0, going into the bottom of the eighth.

Saddleback scored three times in the inning only to have Mt. San Antonio’s Ismael Gallo hit a two-run home run in the ninth.

Jon Lauderdale and Day opened the ninth with singles. Tavaras Comeaux doubled in one run, putting runners on second and third. But Jeff Cunningham lined to second, Dom Lombardi popped up and Gregg Ferrell struck out on a full-count pitch to end the inning.

This left Day airing his frustrations loudly as he got his glove from a teammate and ran from third base, where he was stranded, to his left-field position.

Ryan Ruiz started the 10th with a single and Corrie Willkie reached on an error. Willkie singled in the fifth to extend his hitting streak to 19 games, which ties a Saddleback season record.

Lauderdale walked to load the bases and Day lifted a fly to right, Ruiz easily beating the throw home.

Kevin Brady had two-run double and pinch-hitter Justin Greco had an RBI single as Saddleback scored three times in the eighth.

Saddleback (29-13) will play host Cypress at 11 a.m. today. The teams have split four Orange Empire Conference meetings.

Cypress 8, Riverside 2--Michael Cosgrove of Cypress (36-11) won a battle of the Orange Empire Conference’s co-pitchers of the year. He pitched a nine-hitter to improve to 10-1. Kevin Olson (8-4) pitched into the eighth but took the loss for Riverside (29-18).

Jeremy Booth broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run double in the seventh as Cypress scored three times to open a 4-1 lead. Junior Rodriguez had two-run double as Cypress scored four unearned runs in the eighth.