COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Rolls in Baseball Season Finale

If Rancho Santiago ever looks for a new home field, the Dons might consider the one at Orange Coast College.

The Dons beat OCC, 21-10, Saturday in the final Orange Empire Conference baseball game of the season for both teams. Rancho Santiago beat the Pirates, 22-17, at OCC earlier this season.

Rancho Santiago (32-8, 17-7 in conference) scored 43 runs and had 45 hits in two games at OCC this season. Rancho Santiago had clinched its fourth consecutive conference title with an 11-2 victory over Saddleback.

The loss dropped Orange Coast (24-16, 14-10) into a three-way tie for second with Riverside (28-14, 14-10) and Saddleback (29-12, 14-10).

Orange Coast, which beat Riverside three times and Saddleback twice, will be the second-seeded team from the conference when the playoff pairings are announced Monday.

Riverside and Saddleback will have to hope for at-large berths into the 16-team field.

Derek Brown was four for seven, including a three-run home run and two doubles, and drove in six runs. Steve Thobe added three hits, including a double, and drove in three runs also for Rancho Santiago.

Orange Coast had scored five runs in the third to open a 5-1 lead and the teams were tied, 8-8, after six innings.

But Rancho Santiago scored four times in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Brown, an RBI double by Thobe and a two-run single by Ryan Andersen.

Rich Ernst had three hits including a double for OCC.

In other conference games:

Riverside 10, Fullerton 8--Scott Wulfing hit a grand slam in the seventh to cap a seven-run inning that gave Riverside a 10-8 lead. Riverside is 28-14, 14-10.

Steve Friedrich had two hits including a double for Fullerton (16-25, 6-18).

Cypress 11, Golden West 8--Greg Tippin had a home run and a double and drove in four runs for visiting Cypress (27-15, 13-11). Keith McDonald also had a home run for Cypress.

David Schultz had a two-run double as Golden West (13-22, 7-17) scored seven runs in the first inning.