Kuzmic Leads Cypress Past Rancho Santiago

Craig Kuzmic hit two home runs and Cypress scored seven runs in the first inning against first-place Rancho Santiago on its way to a 13-5 victory Tuesday in an Orange Empire Conference baseball game Tuesday at Cypress College.

Kuzmic had three hits, three RBIs and three runs. Cypress (29-7-1, 12-5 in conference) won for the 13th time in its last 14 games and moved within two games of Rancho Santiago (32-4-1, 14-3).

In other conference games:

Golden West 10, Orange Coast 2--Cory Carr (3-8) threw a seven-hitter and Eric Albright had a three-run double in Golden West’s six-run third inning. The loss was the Pirates’ 10th straight in conference and 13th in the last 14 games.

Carr (3-8) struck out six, walked three and allowed only one hit in the first five innings for the Rustlers (12-22, 4-13). Craig Ritter’s double in the eighth scored Travis Clutter to break up Carr’s shutout bid.

In the Orange Empire Conference women’s tennis tournament:

Orange Coast advances five to the third round--Unseeded Van Nguyen of Orange Coast upset sixth-seeded Mariska Handoya of Fullerton, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, to advance to the third round.

Top-seeded Cami Erickson, fifth-seeded Whitney Gillian, Trisha Streelman and Martha Garcia of Orange Coast also advanced.

Other seeded players advancing included Gabi Rios (Saddleback), Shauna Maxwell (Riverside), Jill Riley (Irvine Valley), Missy Hosoi (Saddleback), and Penny Jones (Golden West).

The third round is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Fullerton and Cypress colleges.