Orange County Community College Baseball : Fullerton Fails in the Clutch, Falls to Long Beach City

It was a case of opportunities missed for Fullerton College Thursday as Long Beach City defeated the Hornets, 12-8, in a South Coast Conference baseball game at Fullerton.

Long Beach City scored three runs in the sixth inning off losing pitcher Mark Tranberg (2-1) to take a 9-8 lead. Fullerton put the tying run on base in the bottom of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but failed to score.

Despite the loss, Fullerton (12-3, 16-6-2) remains in a first-place tie with Cerritos, which was upset by El Camino, 10-7, Thursday. Fullerton plays at Cerritos Saturday at noon.

With one out in the sixth, Shawn Blankenship singled for the Hornets, but Emmitt Cohick and Andy Ruscitto flied out.

Tim Churchill opened the seventh with a single and was sacrificed to second by Scott Einhorn. Bart Stroozas then grounded a single to left field, but Churchill had to hold at third.

Rich Weller then hit into an inning-ending double play.

In the eighth, Jon Rice singled and was sacrificed to second by Reggie Brown. Blankenship struck out and Cohick flied to right.

Long Beach City (9-7, 12-11) added three more runs in the ninth.

Ruscitto opened the bottom half with a single, but Churchill flied out and Einhorn hit into a game-ending double play.

The Vikings took a 6-0 lead in the top of the second inning when Anthony Tony, who went 4 for 6 and scored three runs, hit a three-run homer.

But Fullerton came back with five runs in the bottom of the second, three scoring on singles by Brown, Blankenship and Ruscitto. The Hornets took the lead, 7-6, in the fourth on a two-run double by Cohick. Churchill later hit into a fielder’s choice to score Cohick and give Fullerton an 8-6 lead.

In other South Coast Conference games:

Golden West 15, Compton 3--Tom Smythe hit for the cycle and had six RBIs to lead the Rustlers at Compton. Jeff Bryant (3-4) was the winning pitcher.

In Orange Empire Conference games:

Rancho Santiago 19, Riverside City 4--Frank Appice had two hits and five RBIs to lead a 21-hit attack, as the Dons (8-0, 18-3) won at Riverside.

Brent Reese added three hits and three RBIs, Chris Chase had three hits and four RBIs and Dave Kirkpatrick had two hits and three RBIs for Rancho Santiago. Mike Anthony (5-0) pitched seven innings to gain the victory.

Orange Coast 14, Cypress 9--Ralph Ramirez went 4 for 5 with four RBIs, and Jimmy Culpepper and Mark Rassmussen each added three hits, as the Pirates defeated the Chargers at Cypress. Orange Coast (6-2, 20-6) had 18 hits. Cypress is 3-5, 17-11.