College Roundup: OCC’s quest for state title starts Thursday

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

State Final Four

Orange Coast College, the Pacific Coast Conference champion, will take on Grossmont in the first semifinal match of the 2012 California Community College Athletic Assn. Men’s Volleyball State Championships on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Long Beach City College.

The Griffins (11-7, 8-4 in conference) finished third in the PCC behind Orange Coast (14-4, 11-1) and runner-up Irvine Valley (11-7, 9-3). In head-to-head matchups, the Pirates went 2-0, beating the Griffins in four games on Feb. 29 at Grossmont and in three games on March 23 at OCC.

The winner of Thursday’s match will face the winner of Thursday’s late match between IVC and Long Beach City for the state championship, which will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. at LBCC.

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MEN’S GOLF

Orange Empire Conference tournament

CORONA — Jaime Moreno fired a one-over-par 73 to help Orange Coast College take first place against seven schools for the fifth time this season Wednesday at Green River Golf Club.

Moreno finished third. Paul Gomez from Cypress was the medalist with a 67.

Marcus Mercado-Kiel (77), Mike Squillace (75), Chris Cochran (76), Kyle Frane (74) and Adam Oser (75) also competed for the Pirates.

OCC came out on top at 373, ahead of Palomar (376), Cypress (379), Santiago Canyon (380), Riverside 386, Cuyamaca (390), Saddleback (395) and Irvine Valley College (414).

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MEN’S TENNIS

Vanguard 6, Point Loma Nazarene 3

SAN DIEGO — Lucas Pereira won at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-2, to help the No. 7-ranked Lions knock off the No. 6 Sea Lions in Golden State Athletic Conference action Wednesday.

Roger Muri (No. 2), Yahor Kryvaruchka (No. 3) and Robin Wagner (No. 4) also won in singles for Vanguard (12-9, 6-5 in conference).

PLNU is 12-9, 7-6.

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BASEBALL

Orange Coast 7, Golden West 6

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Bijan Rademacher and Bryan Garza delivered clutch hits for the Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Tuesday.

OCC held leads of 1-0, 4-0, 5-3 and 6-5 only to see the Rustlers battle back and tie the game each time. Finally, in the top of the eighth, a two-out double by Rademacher was followed up with an RBI-single to left by Garza, putting the Pirates (28-3-1, 15-2 in conference) up for good.

Rademacher threw a scoreless ninth for his second save of the season.

Boog Powell went three for five with a run scored and three RBIs to lead OCC, while Rademacher and Garza each added two hits, a run and one RBI and Trent Woodward chipped in two hits and scored twice.

Keegan Yuhl, 9-0 in nine starts this year, did not earn a decision in the game. The sophomore transfer allowed five runs (only one earned) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts over six innings.

Golden West is 18-13-1, 9-8.

OCC maintains a three-game lead over Santa Ana atop the OEC standings with four games remaining. A Pirate win and Santa Ana loss on Thursday would give OCC its first outright conference title since 1987.

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WOMEN’S TENNIS

Point Loma Nazarene 7, Vanguard 2

SAN DIEGO — Gabriela Bermanova won at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 6-0, for the No. 15-ranked Lions in the Golden State Athletic Conference match Wednesday.

Vanguard is Vanguard 8-12, 7-6 in conference.

PLNU, ranked No. 6, is 15-5, 11-3.

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SOFTBALL

Saddleback 7, Orange Coast 0

MISSION VIEJO — Kayla Blanco had one of the Pirates’ four hits in the Orange Empire Conference game Wednesday.

OCC is 10-25, 4-15 in conference.

Saddleback is 26-9, 13-6.