Orange Coast Beats Fullerton in Baseball

Orange Coast’s Jim Sipkovich got Nick Garcia to ground into a bases-loaded double play to preserve an 8-6 victory over Fullerton in the opening game of Orange Empire Conference baseball play.

Orange Coast (8-7, 1-0) led, 8-3, in the top of the ninth inning when Erik Gomez hit a leadoff single for Fullerton (11-4, 0-1). Pirate pitcher Bryan Moore then hit three consecutive batters, forcing in a run.

Reliever Cameron Flading struck out one and walked two, cutting Orange Coast’s lead to 8-6.

Rancho Santiago 5, Golden West 3--Josh Redding’s infield single scored Charlie Marino and Joe Seccoda to break a 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth for Rancho Santiago (15-1, 1-0). Seccoda went four for five, with a home run and a triple, three runs scored and two runs batted in. Heath Bell (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief, retiring all five batters he faced.

Ken Sundstrom hit a two-run triple in the third for Golden West (8-6, 0-1).

Saddleback 6, Cypress 4--Johnny Nguyen went four for four with three RBIs for visiting Saddleback (13-0, 1-0). Reliever Ryan Poe earned his second save, getting the final out in the eighth with runners on second and third, before pitching a scoreless ninth. Cypress is 14-3, 0-1.

In the East Los Angeles softball tournament:

Saddleback wins two--Treva Whitaker had five hits, three runs scored and an RBI for Saddleback, which won two of three games in the pool-play tournament. The Gauchos defeated East Los Angeles, 5-0, and Citrus, 7-0, but lost to Los Angeles Valley, 1-0.